Case Update Status

Services restored on April 9.

Summary of Case

"On April 9, residents across Pakistan experienced a temporary disruption in internet services, with users reporting outages starting from 11:35 am. The primary service providers affected included Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), Nayatel, and Transworld Home. The connectivity issues were reported in major cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar. The internet tracker website Downdetector indicated a significant number of reports in the early afternoon, with problems beginning to resolve around 4 pm for Transworld Home and Nayatel, although PTCLcontinued to show issues into the evening. Netblocks, another internet monitor, confirmed the disruptions and subsequent partial recovery, citing sources that attributed the problem to a technical malfunction. Transworld Home acknowledged the disruption in a customer communication, describing it as an “unexpected nationwide outage” and assured users that their team was investigating the problem with a view to restoring services fully once resolved. The company apologized for any inconvenience caused. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not yet released a formal statement regarding the cause of the internet outage. However, sources within the PTA cited by Geo News suggested that the disruption was due to complications involving a submarine cable.

Category of Incident

Censorship

ICCS Status

ICCS Divisions: 0803-Acts related to freedom of expression or control of expression

ICCS Group: N/A

ICCS Class: 08039-Other acts related to freedom of expression or control of expression

ICCS Crime: Acts related to freedom of expression or control of expression

Reported By

Dawn

Date of incident

9

Month

April

Year

2024

Name of affected person

N/A

Other affected persons

N/A

Name of affected organization

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), Transworld Home, and Nayatel

Other affected organizations

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), Transworld Home, and Nayatel

Action by

Technical error

City

Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar

Province

Punjab, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Designation

N/A

Professional category

N/A

Age of victim

N/A

Marital Status

Compensation Details

Amount of compensation announced by government: N/A

Date of compensation announcement by government: N/A

Date of compensation paid by government: N/A

Amount of compensation announced by others: N/A

Date of compensation announced by others: N/A

Date compensation paid by others: N/A

FIR Details

Was FIR registered ?: No

Court Details

Was case investigated ?: N/A

Court where case was presented: N/A

Name of prosecuting lawyer: N/A

Date of first court hearing:

Date of last court hearing:

Status of court case: N/A

Journalist Union Status

PFUJ

Not Condemned

APNS

Not Condemned

CPNE

Not Condemned

PBA

Not Condemned

Media Source Status

Media reports:

Condemn Status

Colleague of victim

N/A

Employer organization

N/A

Press Club Status

Press club 1: Not applicable as internet services were dirupted.

Press club 2: Not applicable as internet services were dirupted.

Press club 3: Not applicable as internet services were dirupted.