Freelancers losing projects, contracts due to internet outage in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Amid an internet outage nationwide, freelancers have been facing several challenges over the past few weeks including delays in meeting their project deadlines.

Earlier, Fiverr, an online freelancing platform, made several accounts in Pakistan “unavailable” due to the prevailing internet access and speed issues across the country. “To make sure any unexpected order delays won’t hurt your seller ratings, Fiverr has set Pakistani sellers into out-of-office mode,” the company staffer responded to a user’s query on Fiverr’s community platform.

As the connectivity issue escalates, freelancers on different online marketplaces including Fiverr are facing cancellation of their projects or contracts due to the possible internet disruption nationwide, workers using the site said on social media.

The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP) Chairman Shahzad Arshad on Thursday said internet speeds over the past few weeks lowered by 30 to 40 percent and warned that the situation can lead many businesses to relocate their operations to other countries.

One of the freelancers, Hafeez, shared a screenshot of a conversation with his client on social media. It showed the freelancer getting his order canceled due to the internet connectivity issue he faced.

“Hi Hafeez, that is a shame about your internet. I found another designer in the meantime. thanks for your time nay ways,” the client replied to his message, saying, “Hi, sorry for the late reply, I was having an internet error.”

A user named ‘Pakistan’ on Reddit, shared a rant, saying that he secured an online job but due to the internet disruption, he failed to get anything done which could lead to his job expulsion. “Legitimately can’t even communicate with my colleagues abroad. Zoom isn’t even working,” the user wrote.

Furthermore, the user said that his friends have been laid off because of not meeting deadlines and so many others, especially those of Fiverr, etc.

One of the Fiverr freelancers expressed his sentiments to his teacher in an online conversation, which he shared on social media, after his account got disabled for using a VPN, and other internet-related issues.

According to Downdetector, an internet monitoring service, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) was the most affected while services provided by Zong, Nayatel, and Fiberlink were also affected. Downdetector showed a sharp spike in reported outages of PTCL services from around 1:00 pm onwards today.

Moreover, Meta platforms Facebook and WhatsApp also witnessed an increase in outage complaints at around 1 pm, Downdetector showed. Both platforms have also seen a higher-than-usual number of outages in the past 24 hours.