On August 19, a major internet outage struck Pakistan, disrupting connectivity across the country and leaving millions of users offline. Businesses, banks, and everyday communication were severely affected in what industry experts described as one of the most significant breakdowns in recent years.
According to global internet observatory NetBlocks, national access fell to a fraction of its usual levels. “Metrics show a major disruption to internet connectivity across Pakistan with high impact to backbone operator PTCL; overall national connectivity is down to 20% of ordinary levels,” the watchdog said in a post on X.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) also acknowledged the disruption, confirming that both its broadband and Ufone mobile services were hit. “We are currently facing data connectivity challenges on our PTCL and Ufone services. Our Teams are diligently working to restore the services as quickly as possible. We regret any inconvenience caused,” the company said.
Since other telecom operators rely on PTCL’s wholesale internet, subscribers of Jazz, Zong and Telenor also reported service disruptions. The blackout quickly became a national crisis, affecting millions of users simultaneously.
Government officials suggested that the problem stemmed from a fault at a landing station in Karachi. “No submarine cable issue has been reported, so the problem is likely at the landing station and some technical fault in the main hub,” an IT ministry official said. “As a result, it’s a nationwide outage now with upstream traffic facing issues too.”
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that technical teams were working to restore services.
IT Minister Shaza Fatima linked the connectivity collapse to Karachi’s ongoing power outages and urban flooding, which damaged telecom infrastructure and overloaded networks. “The other localised issue is temporary choking of the network as too many people were stranded at the same spot and almost everyone was either making calls or receiving them. And now with PTCL going dead, all connectivity has shifted at telephony creating more choking,” she said.
Officials noted that floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had damaged more than 200 telecom towers, though most were restored in Swat, Buner and Shangla. Karachi, home to around 12 million mobile phone users, experienced some of the worst disruptions as Ufone’s collapse shifted traffic to rival operators.
The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (Wispap) estimated that nearly two-thirds of users nationwide were affected. The group warned that the latest failure was not an isolated incident but part of a troubling pattern.
“This is a national failure,” said Shahzad Arshad, Wispap chairman. “Internet outages are no longer rare accidents in Pakistan; they have become a recurring reality. For two-thirds of the country to go dark in 2025, on the very date we saw the same collapse in 2022, should ring alarm bells at every level of government.”
Arshad stressed the importance of building resilience into the country’s digital infrastructure. “Every hour offline costs Pakistan millions and damages our reputation internationally,” he said, urging reforms to diversify providers, build regional exchanges, and eliminate single points of failure.
“Pakistan’s digital future cannot remain hostage to single points of failure,” Arshad warned. “We need decisive reforms, not repeated apologies.”
