By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The telecoms regulator said on Wednesday internet services had been fully restored after a nationwide outage earlier in the day, caused by a fault in the main state-owned provider’s system.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said the “short interruption” had been resolved, with services now available across the country.
“It is notified that the internet/broadband is now available across Pakistan. Short interruption/degradation was successfully resolved. The exact issue is being investigated by PTA,” the authority said in an update.
The outage, which began on Wednesday morning, affected internet services provided by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), the country’s largest provider, with users in major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad reporting disruptions.
PTA said the fault was being investigated, but did not provide further details on the cause of the outage.
Global internet monitor Netblocks reported a “nation-scale disruption to internet connectivity”, with national connectivity at 24 percent of ordinary levels during the outage.
“Metrics show national connectivity at 24pc of ordinary levels, corroborating user reports of a widespread outage,” it said in a post on X.
The disruption sparked complaints from users on social media, with many reporting difficulties accessing online services.
On social media platform X, users expressed frustration over the disruption, with one saying, “I have been trying to connect to the internet for hours, but it’s not working.” Another user reported a “total blackout, no internet, no phone.”
PTCL responded to three users on X between 11 am and 1 pm, saying, “We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” but did not provide a reason for the outage.
This is the second internet outage in Pakistan in recent months, after a brief disruption in April was attributed to a technical issue.
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