SMW5 Submarine Cable Fault Fixed, Internet Services Restored Across Pakistan

Internet services across Pakistan have returned to normal after a fault in the SEA-ME-WE 5 international submarine cable system was resolved, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said on Friday.

According to the telecom regulator, the technical issue that had disrupted data traffic and caused connectivity problems for users on Thursday night has now been fixed. The PTA said internet traffic has returned to normal levels following restoration work on the affected cable route.

The authority also confirmed that the international transit capacity of Transworld Associates has been restored. TWA is one of Pakistan’s key private-sector operators connected to international submarine fiber-optic cable infrastructure.

Following the PTA’s update, internet service provider Nayatel also said that international traffic had returned to normal. The company added that its teams were continuing to monitor the network to ensure service stability.

The disruption began on Thursday night when PTA reported a technical fault along the SEA-ME-WE 5 route. At the time, the regulator had warned that some users could face intermittent degradation in service quality and connectivity due to the fault.

Submarine internet cables are a critical part of Pakistan’s digital infrastructure, carrying international data traffic used for browsing, streaming, cloud services, online banking, digital businesses, and communication platforms. Any disruption in these systems can affect internet quality across multiple regions of the country.

The Ministry of Information Technology has said the SEA-ME-WE 6 cable offers a total capacity of more than 100 terabits per second, with Pakistan allocated 13.2 terabits per second. The system is designed to provide one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe.

The ministry has also described SEA-ME-WE 6 as a more advanced cable system, featuring additional fiber pairs and more than double the capacity of previous SEA-ME-WE systems. The new cable is expected to improve network resilience and provide greater route diversity across high-traffic Asia-Europe corridors.

Also read:

Pakistan Has No Law Recognizing Internet as an Essential Service: IT Ministry