Islamabad, Oct 6: After struggling with the problem of limited bandwidth for months, users around Pakistan faced internet failure on Saturday, mostly as a result of overloading, an official said.
As a result of upgrading the Web Management System, often known as an “internet firewall,” the nation has already been experiencing limited bandwidth, said a senior executive of one of the cellular mobile providers. According to him, the system is being improved to handle internet traffic of up to nine gigabytes, according to Pakistan’s leading media outlet Dawn.
There were reports of internet and social media service disruptions across the nation as PTI supporters left Islamabad by Saturday midday.
Netblocks claims that throughout the previous day, reports of disruptions in WhatsApp services were received from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.
Basic services, including online banking, ride-hailing, and food delivery services, have been impacted by the suspension of cellular and mobile data services in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi since Friday morning.
The Punjab administration had also asked for the suspension of cellular services in the province’s major cities, but the proposal had been turned down, according to a top Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) official.
“There are significant worries about security agency threats, so cellular services have been suspended in urban areas of Rawalpindi district and Islamabad,” the PTA spokesman continued.
He said the telecom regulator suspends cellular services at the request of security agencies. The PTA “is not authorised” to ask any security agency for details or the nature of the security threat.
He said the request from the Punjab Government was rejected as “there was no such threat in any city of Punjab.” (UNI)
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