Internet users in Pakistan may face slower speeds during peak hours until November 2, 2026. The AAE-1 internet slowdown Pakistan warning comes from Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), which has announced emergency maintenance on the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) international submarine cable.
PTCL said the maintenance began on Tuesday, October 27, on the section of the cable between Italy and France. Users may experience minor service degradation during peak hours while the work continues. PTCL thanked customers for their patience.
AAE-1 internet slowdown Pakistan: what PTCL announced
The announcement is narrow but clear. The work is maintenance, not a cut. The affected section sits at the European end of the cable. The effect is expected at peak hours, when the most users are online at once, and it runs until November 2.
Because the maintenance sits on the European end, users are most likely to notice slower speeds when reaching services hosted in Europe, especially during busy evening hours. Local traffic and services hosted closer to home should feel less effect, though PTCL has not published a breakdown by service or region.
PTCL has not said whether it will add backup bandwidth during the maintenance window. That point matters, because extra capacity on other cables is the usual way to soften a slowdown. Until PTCL says more, users should expect the peak-hour drag to last for the full window.
Why one cable matters so much
AAE-1 is one of the main routes carrying Pakistan’s international internet traffic. The roughly 25,000-kilometre system links South East Asia to Europe through Egypt and lands in Pakistan at Karachi. It connects the country to Europe through landing points in Greece, Italy and France.
Pakistan’s international traffic runs through a small number of submarine systems. When one of them goes into maintenance, or suffers a fault, the remaining cables carry the load and speeds dip at the busiest times. That is why a repair on a section between Italy and France can slow an evening video call in Lahore or a download in Karachi.
This is not the first time AAE-1 has affected users in Pakistan. In January 2025, a fault on the cable near Qatar caused slow internet speeds across the country for nearly two weeks before PTCL announced that it had been fixed. The current episode differs in one key way: it is planned maintenance with a stated end date, November 2, rather than a fault with an open-ended repair.
What users can expect until November 2
Expect the slowest speeds in the evening, when households stream video, join calls and download large files at the same time. Services hosted in Europe are the most likely to lag. Work that can wait, such as large downloads and system updates, will run better outside peak hours.
Businesses that depend on live video or large file transfers to Europe should plan around the window. The slowdown is described as minor degradation, not an outage, so connections should stay up even when they run slower than usual.
Technology and internet reliability affect readers well beyond this one cable. Recent coverage includes the flaws found in websites worldwide in Hackers Exploit PHP2Shell Flaws After Emergency Patches and the scale of new artificial intelligence investment in Anthropic IPO Filing Reveals $80.7bn Loss.
What happens next
The maintenance runs until November 2. PTCL may add backup bandwidth or issue a further update before then, but it has announced neither so far. If speeds return to normal before November 2, that will be the first sign the work finished early. If the slowdown lasts past that date, PTCL will need to explain why.
Source: ProPakistani, “Internet in Pakistan to Slow Down Until November 2 Due to Cable Maintenance”, 27 October 2026, https://propakistani.pk/?p=1107535
Frequently asked questions
Why will the internet slow down in Pakistan?
PTCL is carrying out emergency maintenance on the AAE-1 submarine cable, on the section between Italy and France, which may cause minor service degradation at peak hours.
How long will the slowdown last?
PTCL says the maintenance runs until November 2, 2026.
Which services will be affected most?
Services hosted in Europe are most likely to slow, especially during busy evening hours, because the work sits at the European end of the cable.
Is this an internet outage?
No. PTCL describes it as minor service degradation at peak hours, not a shutdown. Connections should stay up, but speeds may dip.
