No end to Internet Outages: PTCL customers to suffer again

PTCL customers are going to suffer again due to the failure of the company as more internet outages are expected in the coming days as the draining of flood water continues in upper Sindh, which is causing cuts and damage to optical fibre cables.

The report filed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has said that more internet outages can occur in the coming days, as optic fibre cables were being damaged mainly by heavy machinery used to clear water in Sindh.

IT Ministry concerned over PTCL’s failure to address internet outages

Taking note of repeated internet outages in recent days the Ministry of IT and Telecom has sought a technical report from the PTCL as well as the telecom sector regulator – Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Responding to the query by the Ministry of IT and telecom, the PTCL has reported that repeated internet outages in recent days were mainly due to flood relief efforts in Sukkur division Sindh where the cables were damaged mainly by heavy machinery being used to clear water.

Even the PTA has said that the multiple cuts in the optic fibre were not due to any sabotage or criminal activity, but because of digging trenches at various places to divert or drain off the flood water.   

The report filed to the ministry by the PTCL has said that the last disruptions reported on August 22 and 23 were due to multiple cuts in Ghotki, Khairpur, and Sukkur districts of Sukkur division, and the most serious damage was in Ranipur tehsil (taluka) of Khairpur district. 

Acknowledging the multiple accidental cuts, the minister for IT & Telecom Syed Amin ul Haque told Dawn said that initial reports suggest that the situation was serious and more such incidents can be expected in near future.

“Due to extensive flooding, most of the pathways where the underground cables have been buried have been submerged, as the relief workers or the locals were trying to drain water trenches were being dug at the roads and paths,” the minister said.

He added, “The ministry has directed the PTCL to declare an emergency in this regard so that the repair would be initiated soon as any such incident is reported in the system, while the PTA is constantly monitoring the quality of service.”

The total internet usage in Pakistan was around 6 terabytes, mainly supplied through seven submarine internet cable systems, of which four are operated by PTCL, two by Transworld Associates and a new cable system that recently came online, owned by a Chinese company.

Out of the six terabytes, almost 80 per cent of the internet traffic in the country is through more than 50,000 kilometres of widespread PTCL network.

However, the PTCL cable network has the capacity to carry 6.5 terabytes of data, but only 70 per cent of the total capacity is utilised, so that the traffic could be shifted to other cables in case of damage.

Apart from its own retail internet service a large number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) including Storm Fibre, Nayatel etc buy bulk internet from the PTCL, as a result any damage to the company’s cable system, results in internet service disruptions and degradation for customers of other ISPs too.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the ministry said that cable damages and service degradations are reported almost daily, but the situation becomes serious when the optic fibre gets hit.

“As the cables were damaged in upper Sindh, the internet service in Punjab, KP and some areas of Balochistan suffered, but there was no such issue for consumers in Karachi, Hyderabad, Gwadar and other districts of the South,” the official said.

However, due to the state of emergency in the company, the service restoration is faster than normal.