ISLAMABAD   -  The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that the ongoing internet disruption across the country would likely to continue for over a month as the submarine cable, which caused degradation of the services, was expected to repair by early October.

“The ongoing internet disruption was mainly due to a fault in two submarine cables. The fault in SMW-4 submarine cable is likely to be repaired by early October 2024, whereas submarine cable AAE-1 has been repaired which may improve internet experience,” said the PTA in a statement issued here on Wednesday.

The internet disruptions faced strong criticism from netizens and information technology (IT) sector, attributing the prevailing internet slowdown and limited connectivity to the purported testing of an internet firewall to rein in social media, which is equipped with filters to block unwanted content from reaching a wider audience.

Last week, the PTA blamed the internet slowdown on fault in “two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally”.

Earlier this month, PTA Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeezur Rehman had admitted that upgradation of the National Firewall System (NFS) or Web Management System (WMS) was under way for controlling or removing contents from social media, following directions received from executives or courts.

He said the PC-1 for the NFS upgradation was approved in March 2019, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was ruling the country, as per The News report. He also said that social media messaging service X, formerly Twitter, was banned for not complying with the directives issued by the interior ministry, as there was a defined mechanism to slap a ban or remove content on social media under the law of the land.