Key points
- Houthis deny involvement in cable damage claims
- Users and officials urge swift repairs and rerouting
- Historical fault risks echo past Red Sea outages
ISLAMABAD: Internet users across Pakistan faced notable slowdowns this weekend after undersea cables in the Red Sea were severed near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to regional monitoring groups and telecom operators.
The damage has affected the SMW4 and IMEWE systems, two of the main arteries carrying digital traffic between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, prompting rerouting and congestion on remaining networks.
Regional Concern
The network observatory NetBlocks reported degraded connectivity across several countries, including Pakistan and India. AT the same time, Microsoft said the incident was causing higher latency for traffic through the Middle East, even though some unaffected pathways remained intact.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) confirmed, in a post on X, the cuts and assured subscribers that alternate bandwidth solutions were being arranged.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told Arab News it was “closely monitoring developments and assessing the impact on users,” underscoring the regulator’s role in ensuring service continuity.
Infrastructure risks
The cable disruptions come amid heightened regional conflict and fears that vital subsea infrastructure could become a target. Earlier claims on social media had blamed Yemen’s Houthis for being involved, but the group denied responsibility.
Commentators and regional security analysts have nonetheless highlighted the vulnerability of submarine cable systems, noting that the Red Sea carries nearly a fifth of global internet traffic and serves as one of the most concentrated corridors of digital infrastructure worldwide.
Businesses fear economic fallout
Pakistan’s IT and outsourcing sectors, which rely heavily on stable connectivity, warned that persistent disruptions could hurt global client confidence.
The Financial Times earlier quoted Nadeem Elahi of TRG saying that past slowdowns had degraded services by “30 to 40 per cent,” disrupting customer relations and investor sentiment.
Past precedents
Pakistan has experienced similar outages before. In 2008, cuts to the SEA-ME-WE 4 and FLAG cables left millions across South Asia and the Middle East without stable internet for days.
Three years earlier, in 2005, parts of the SEA-ME-WE 3 system near Karachi were damaged, disrupting communications for some ten million users. These events throw light on the long-standing risks faced by countries that rely on a handful of chokepoints for digital connectivity.
Path to repair
Repairing undersea cables is a complex task requiring specialised ships and coordination among multiple national authorities. Industry officials say the work could take weeks, depending on conditions at sea, leaving affected countries to rely on rerouted traffic in the meantime.
PTCL said specialised repair vessels have been mobilised, but both the company and PTA warned that full restoration may take several days. In the meantime, businesses, banks, and freelance workers are preparing for reduced speeds and service interruptions.
For Pakistani users, the disruption has again underscored the fragility of critical digital lifelines and the urgency of diversifying connectivity routes.
