PTCL Outage Hits Pakistan Amid Karachi Floods

News Desk

Islamabad: Heavy rainfall in Karachi caused widespread disruptions to PTCL internet and Ufone services, impacting subscribers nationwide.

Since other telecom operators rely on PTCL’s wholesale internet, users of Jazz, Zong, and Telenor also experienced data outages.

Netblocks, a global internet watchdog, confirmed a significant disruption in internet connectivity across Pakistan, with PTCL being severely affected. National connectivity dropped to just 20% of normal levels.

When asked, a PTCL spokesperson acknowledged the problem, saying, “Our teams are working diligently to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience,” but did not specify the cause of the nationwide outage.

Sources within the Ministry of IT and Telecom suggested the disruption could be due to a technical fault at the submarine cable landing station in Karachi’s Clifton area.

“No issues with the submarine cables have been reported, so the problem likely lies at the landing station or a technical fault in the main hub,” an official said. “This has caused a nationwide outage, affecting upstream traffic as well.”

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stated that technical teams were actively working to resolve the problem.

IT Minister Shaza Fatima attributed the disruptions to power outages and network congestion, noting that many towers in Karachi were down.

“Another localized issue is network congestion caused by many people stranded in one place, with nearly everyone trying to make or receive calls. Now that PTCL is down, the entire load has shifted to telephony networks, worsening the congestion,” Ms. Fatima explained.

Karachi’s 12 million mobile subscribers were affected, with the remaining three telcos bearing the increased load after Ufone’s service disruption.

A PTA official mentioned that running generators continuously for 12 hours is not practical, and supplying diesel to towers under the current conditions is difficult.

He added that over 200 telecom towers were damaged by floods in KP, and while most have been restored in areas like Swat, Buner, and Shangla, teams are still working to fix the remaining sites.

As severe urban flooding hit Karachi, residents faced widespread telephony disruptions, losing connection with one another.

Saher, a resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, shared her concern: “I got one call from my husband, Jamal, saying he was stuck on the street, but his phone hasn’t connected since sunset. I’m really worried.”