ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was cut off from the rest of the world on Tuesday, with its internet and cellphone links severed by a fault in a main submarine cable off Karachi coast.
A submarine cable linking Pakistan with the international telecom networks appeared to have been snapped about 50 km off Karachi and efforts were to locate it and repair it, officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) said.
Besides internet links, IDD and mobile lines were also disrupted.
Thousands of people were affected by the breakdown in the fibre-optic link beneath the Arabian Sea 35 kilometres south of Karachi which was detected on Monday, they said.
The systems are still down and it would take two weeks to repair, officials said, adding the complex repair work may require a complete shut down which may cause disruption in India, UAE, Djibouti and Oman which are also linked by the damaged cable.
A consortium of 92 countries owns the cable and had asked operating agent Singtel of Singapore to fix the fault, they said.
"This is a highly sophisticated operation and only specialised companies can undertake such a delicate task under the sea," PTCL chief engineer Shahid Ahmed was quoted by AFP as saying.
He said Singtel has appointed E-Marine, a UAE company to fix the fault. They had dispatched a ship which may take 18 to 24 hours to reach the site, he added.
This is the second breakdown to affect the country in six months.
