Pakistan blames mystery internet slowdown on underwater cables
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Internet networks have been up to 40 per cent slower than normal since July and VPN connections are disrupted.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KARACHI – The authorities in Pakistan have blamed a mystery months-long internet slowdown
Digital rights experts believe the state is testing a firewall – a security system that monitors network traffic but can also be used to control online spaces.
The government has previously blamed a surge in virtual private network (VPN) use for the slowdown while admitting that the country was “undergoing a transition”.
“The ongoing internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to (a) fault in two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally,” Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority (PTA) said in a statement on Aug 28, adding that the fault would be repaired by early October.
Internet networks have been up to 40 per cent slower than normal since July, according to one information technology (IT) association, while WhatsApp and VPN connections are severely disrupted.
The government and PTA for weeks refused to comment on the slowdown.
At the start of the month, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the country was “undergoing a transition”.
He added that “there will be some controls to prevent threatening and defamatory content against the state and individuals”.
IT Minister of State Shaza Fatima Khawaja later denied that the government was behind the internet slowdown, blaming it on a surge in VPN use.
It comes as Pakistan’s military – the country’s most powerful institution – says it is battling so-called “digital terrorism”.
Analysts say the main target of the digital disruption is the party of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan, who is still wildly popular and boosted by a young, tech-savvy voter base.
Global rights watchdog Amnesty International urged the Pakistani authorities to be transparent.
“The opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down and control internet speeds is an alarming concern,” said the organisation’s technology expert Jurre van Bergen.
Pakistan is banking on its nascent but growing IT industry to increase its exports and generate critical foreign exchange revenue for a cash-strapped country.
“Without immediate and decisive action, the country risks deeper economic fallout and a prolonged digital divide,” Mr Shahzad Arshad, chairman of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, said in a statement. AFP
