Pakistan on Friday suffered a massive internet outage when a technical fault in an optic fibre network caused by heavy rain cut off various areas, including the national capital Islamabad, from internet services. However, services were later restored, officials from the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL) said.

PTCL officials said that some problems in its optic fibre network caused the disruption, which has since been addressed. The fault caused by heavy rains and flooding has been repaired and internet services have been restored, PTCL tweeted, adding that all internet services in the country have become normal.

Technical fault in the PTCL optic fiber network caused by heavy rains and flooding has been repaired and Internet services have been restored. We regret the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.

— PTCL (@PTCLOfficial) August 19, 2022

The Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said some fault was reported in data networks between South and North which caused internet connectivity issues. This issue is being investigated. The PTA is monitoring the situation and further updates will be shared, the authority said.

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Islamabad and Lahore were among the worst hit urban centres as internet connectivity was down, causing severe problems for the banks, cellular services and all online portals. According to the PTA, there are 116 million users of 3G and 4G services and 119 million broadband subscribers in the country.

Pakistan has been experiencing one of the heaviest rainfalls in decades. According to Reuters, flash floods caused by these abnormally heavy monsoon rains killed at least 549 people in Pakistan over the past month, with remote communities in the impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan among the hardest hit.

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Government agencies and the army have set up aid and relief camps in flood-hit regions and were working to help relocate families and provide food and medicine.

(With PTI inputs)