ISLAMABAD: Internet users from across Pakistan experienced video buffering, slow loading of websites, and freezing video calls.
By midday, it became clear that the country was being swept by a major internet outage.
Nayatel, one of the major Internet providers, faced a failure of one of its main upstream connections.
The digital world is thus dented as users across major cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, reel under slow browsing.
A critical vulnerability is unveiled as Pakistan relies heavily on only international internet connections.
All traffic was forced onto the remaining route since just one upstream link had gone out, and as expected, heavy congestion and extremely high latency have resulted.
Telecom analysts emphasize that this is not an isolated problem, as limited upstream redundancy makes the country incredibly prone to failures.
Even a single glitch in a submarine cable, an electric outage at a landing station, or misconfigurations overseas can trigger a national slowdown. Similar incidents have also shown how vulnerable the digital backbone of Pakistan is.
Nayatel confirmed the scale of the disruption, saying technical teams are working around the clock to reroute traffic and stabilise connectivity.
No definitive timeline has been given for a full restoration. While repairs are in progress, millions of internet users have to make do with slow connections and an unstable experience on the internet.
