Pakistan’s international internet capacity has received a major upgrade following the activation of the South-East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) submarine cable system, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on Saturday.

The new 19,200-kilometre fibre-optic network connects Pakistan to key global digital hubs from Singapore to France, significantly improving the country’s online speed and network resilience.

According to the ministry, SEA-ME-WE 6 is designed to deliver over 100 terabits per second (Tbps) of total system capacity, making it one of the highest-capacity and lowest-latency routes linking Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.

Pakistan Receives 13.2 Tbps — 4 Tbps Activated Immediately

Under the deployment plan, Pakistan has been allocated 13.2 Tbps, out of which 4 Tbps has already been activated, marking one of the most substantial bandwidth boosts in recent years.

The additional capacity is expected to enhance the performance of:

• Cloud services

• Data centres

• Fintech platforms

• E-commerce businesses

• Streaming services

• Digital enterprises

Officials say this upgrade will significantly strengthen Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and help support the rapidly growing online economy.

Higher Capacity & Stronger Resilience

The SEA-ME-WE 6 system includes more fibre pairs and double the capacity of earlier SEA-ME-WE networks, ensuring improved resilience on high-traffic Asia–Europe data routes.

The ministry added that the system offers:

• Geo-diversified crossings through Egypt

• Enhanced fault protection

• Faster scalability

• Lower operational costs for telecom operators

These features contribute to greater redundancy for global internet connectivity and add a critical new layer to Pakistan’s digital backbone.

Recent Submarine Cable Developments

Earlier this year, in February 2025, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) successfully landed the Africa-1 submarine cable in Karachi, further strengthening the country’s international connectivity corridor.

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Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) announced on Thursday that internet services across the country are now “fully operational” following the complete restoration of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) submarine internet cable.

The AAE-1 cable spans 25,000 kilometers, connecting multiple countries including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and France.

Throughout 2024, internet users in Pakistan faced significant slowdowns and disruptions due to issues with the AAE-1 cable. On January 3, PTCL had assured customers that its teams were “diligently” working to resolve the connectivity problems caused by the subsea cable fault, which had slowed down network speeds nationwide.

The situation saw some relief a day later when IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja stated that around 80% of the bandwidth shortfall had been recovered by rerouting traffic through alternative cables. Despite this effort, no exact timeline for the repair of the AAE-1 cable was initially provided.

Now, with the cable fully restored, PTCL issued a statement affirming the resolution of internet slowness.

“PTCL resolves internet slowness caused by the AAE-1 submarine cable outage in record time. Internet services are now fully operational and browsing is smooth,” said a PTCL spokesperson.

The company highlighted that the additional bandwidth it had deployed during the disruption minimized the impact on users. It also noted that services on platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram had remained “fully functional” for a seamless experience.

The statement concluded with an acknowledgment of the collaborative effort:

“Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and PTCL teams worked tirelessly to restore full connectivity. PTCL thanks customers for their patience and understanding during the restoration process.”

With the AAE-1 cable back in operation, internet users across Pakistan can now enjoy uninterrupted and reliable connectivity once again.

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Pakistan gets world’s largest submarine cable

AAE-1 just recently made an announced that says that Pakistan is now connected with a new submarine cable system. A per the new system the design capacity has increased to 40 Terabits per second with 5 pair cable.  The announcement was made some time ago.

AAE-1 is also known as Asia-Africa-Europe-1. It is the world’s largest submarine cable that covers the area of 25,000 KMs. It is the first ever system that connects Hong Kong, Singapore, Middle East with Africa and Europe.

China Unicom, CIL (HyalRoute), Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat, GT5L, Mobily, Omantel, Ooredoo, OTEG, PCCW, PTCL, Reliance Jio, Retelit, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, TOT, Viettel, VNPT and VTC are included in AAE-1 consortium.  These helped to complete the project in ten years.

PTCL has taken the responsibility to operate and manage the cable throughout Pakistan. With this initiative Pakistan’s international bandwidth will increase and as results it will make overseas connection fluent and without any error.

The stats clearly show that the people of Pakistan using internet in a large number and with this new system the speed will be increased.

According to the information, the following are the current international links and bandwidth capacity that are available in Pakistan:

• TW1 with design capacity of 1.28Tbps
• Sea-Me-We-3 with 480 Gbps with two fibre pairs
• Sea-Me-We-4 with design capacity of 1.28Tbps
• I-ME-WE with Design Capacity of 3.86Tbps
• AAE-1 with design capacity of 40Tbps
• Sea-Me-We-5 with design capacity of 24Tbps

Some links are under construction that will link Pakistan with international lines. These are:

• Silk Route Gateway-1 with design capacity of 20Tbps
• Pakistan-China Fiber Optic Back-Haul

The initiative needed to be taken to meet the demands of internet usage and growing technology that has lead to online communication.

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