Internet users in Pakistan are set to benefit from a modern undersea cable connecting the country to Africa.

The installation of this cable, part of a larger initiative, is nearing completion and is expected to be operational in the coming days.

Stretching 45,000 kilometers with a capacity of 180 terabits per second, the cable will significantly enhance internet speeds, particularly for social media and online services.

Pakistan is included in the 2Africa Pearls project, which connects the Gulf countries to India and features 46 landing stations across 33 countries, making it a crucial component of global digital infrastructure.

Currently, Pakistan ranks 198th in global internet speed, according to the World Population Review. The country’s internet speeds are below those of Palestine, Bhutan, Ghana, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Libya, with average mobile internet download speeds at 19.59 Mbps and broadband averaging 15.52 Mbps. For context, the United Arab Emirates leads in both mobile and broadband speeds, followed by Singapore and Qatar.

In recent months, internet users in Pakistan have expressed growing frustrations due to frequent outages and slow speeds, which have particularly affected the freelancing community and raised concerns about potential unemployment.

The ongoing internet issues are linked to the implementation of internet firewalls at the country’s main gateways, designed to monitor and filter traffic. While these systems aim to control access to certain content, they can also impact overall internet speed.

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Federal Minister of State for Information Technology, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, stated that the slow internet service is largely due to the excessive use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). She clarified that the internet is not intentionally slowed down or blocked, but the rise in VPN usage has adversely affected speeds. Khawaja noted that when certain apps were restricted, users turned to VPNs, which bypass local services and contribute to slower internet performance.