PTA says monitoring internet disruption following SMW5 submarine cable fault

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Thursday it was closely monitoring internet traffic disruption caused by a fault in the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5) international submarine cable system.

Internet users might experience “intermittent degradation” in service quality and connectivity, the authority said in a statement.

“Trans word Associate (TWA) is coordinating with the SMW5 Consortium to identify the root cause of the fault and determine the estimated time for restoration (ETTR).

“In the meantime, internet traffic is being rerouted through alternate international links to minimise the impact and ensure service continuity to the greatest extent possible,” it said.

“PTA remains in close coordination with the concerned stakeholders and will continue to monitor the situation to facilitate the earliest possible restoration of normal internet services across the country.”

DIRBS system upgrade

In another statement issued earlier during the day, the PTA said it was upgrading the Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) to “better serve both the general public and commercial entities”.

“The upgraded, in-house developed system will simplify the device registration process for all users,” it said. “Due to this scheduled upgrade, the DIRBS portal (dirbs.pta.gov.pk) and all related services will be temporarily unavailable from July 3, 2026, 5:00pm until July 6, 2026, 4:00am.”