Telecoms, internet in Pakistan

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Undersea fibre optic cable is damaged
From Azfar-ul-Ashfaque

23 February 2006

KARACHI — Pakistan’s first undersea fibre optic cable, Seamewe-3, was damaged yesterday morning causing interruption in the country’s Internet and voice traffic. However, there was no breakdown in any part of the country, as the recently-commissioned submarine cable, Seamewe-4, was fully operational.

“At about 8:30am, a fault developed in the Semewe-3 and within no time the internet and other traffic shifted automatically to Seamewe-4. Our engineers located the fault in between Gulbai and Paracha Chowk areas. They are working to repair the fault and everything will be normalised by night,” said a spokesman of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).

He claimed that neither any breakdown in terms of Internet traffic occurred nor there was any congestion in voice or internet traffic, as Pakistan has another operational link Seamewe-4, which connects the country with the world.

The cable got damaged due to development work being carried out at Lyari Expressway and officials believed that the use of heavy machinery and shovels damaged the cable.

Besides having a limited satellite backup, Pakistan has two undersea fibre optic links.