Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has claimed that terrorism is one of the factors responsible for slow internet speeds in the country.

According to a recent report (https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1272414-pta-blames-telecom-infrastructure-for-internet-slowdown), PTA has blamed the state of telecommunication infrastructure in the country as the main reason for lagging internet speeds.

This marks a departure from the PTA’s previous positions which said that repairs to submarine cables and even widespread use of virtual private networks (VPNs) were causing problems with internet speed and connectivity.

According to the latest PTA claims, 42% of telecommunication sites across the country have no power back up which means they are prone to frequent outages during load shedding hours.

Additionally, important equipment as well as back-up power generators were stolen from over 700 places in the country, causing a decrease in capacity for those telecom sites. 

However, perhaps the most surprising part of the report said that the operation of 147 telecom sites has been affected in the last five years due to destruction from terrorist attacks.

Apart from telecom infrastructure, PTA also blamed ‘insufficient fiberisation’ for internet issues.

In response to claims that the country’s new firewall is responsible for the degradation of internet services, PTA claimed that the only web monitoring system in place in the country is 18 years old and is only used for filtering out ‘gray traffic’. Therefore, PTA claims, the system has no bearing on any internet activity or consumers.

Reports of slow internet speeds have emerged from across Pakistan in recent months. The government has issued conflicting statements about the reasons for the issues, ranging from a new system to monitor and control the internet in Pakistan as well as the use of VPNs.

Internet services have also been restricted in the country on multiple occasions such as Ashura processions in the Islamic month of Muharram and even political protests such as the march on Islamabad organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in November.

On such occasions, independent observers such as NetBlocks confirmed that social media networks like Facebook and messaging applications like WhatsApp were disrupted across the country. Internet outages impact not just daily life and communications for the general public but have caused massive losses for businesses that use the Internet to operate, such as ride-hailing services. Meanwhile, the popular microblogging website X (formerly Twitter) continues to remain blocked in the country.