Daily Times

Balochistan flood damages optical fiber, disrupts internet connectivity.

The recent torrential rains and flooding in Balochistan have disrupted connectivity in several areas of the province by shattering the optical fiber cable there in addition to damaging the road and rail infrastructure.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the areas where the data services have been affected are included: Quetta, Ziarat, Khuzdar, Loralai, Pishin, Chaman, Panjgor, Zhob, Qila Saifullah and Qila Abdullah.

The PTA said that it was monitoring the situation and would fix this problem soon.

On Friday, the PTA tweeted the following: “Due to torrential rains & flash floods in Balochistan and damage to optical fiber cable, voice and data services have been impacted in Quetta, Ziarat, Khuzdar, Loralai, Pashin, Chaman, Panjgor, Zhob, Qila Saifullah and Qila Abdullah.”

In its tweet, the PTCL wrote: “Ongoing torrential rains & flash floods have damaged bridges, roads and infrastructure including optic fiber cables resulting in loss of connectivity in Northern & Central Balochistan. Our technical teams are trying their best to reach the areas to restore services on priority.”

Pakistanis may face more suspensions of internet service in the coming days as the country deals with excessive flooding caused by relentless rains, according to a technical report submitted to the Ministry of Information Technology.

Pakistan has witnessed two instances of internet outages during the last one week.

The ministry had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to submit a report after incidents of cable cuts recently.

In a technical report delivered on Wednesday to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), it was stated that the repeated internet outages were primarily caused by flood relief efforts in the Sukkur division, where fiber-optic cables were being damaged primarily by heavy machinery used to clear water in Sindh.

The PTA said that building trenches at numerous locations to redirect or drain out floodwater was to blame for the several cuts in fiber-optic cables rather than any sabotage or criminal activities.