Two-Thirds of Pakistan Were Hit by Massive Internet Outage

Man, Pakistan just can’t catch a break with these internet blackouts. This latest one? Kind of wild, honestly—it landed smack on the anniversary of that massive outage back on August 19, 2022. Remember that? When floods basically wrecked the country’s main fiber lines and everyone was scrambling? Fast-forward three years and, bam, déjà vu. Feels like Groundhog Day for Pakistan’s internet. Makes you wonder—how’s their digital setup still this fragile? Seriously, someone needs to sort this mess out.

Man, the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan is seriously pissed—they straight-up called these constant outages a “national failure.” Shahzad Arshad, their chairman, didn’t sugarcoat it either. He basically said, look, this is what happens when you ignore the problem for years and put all your eggs in just a couple of backbone providers’ baskets. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for how things are being run, huh?

Arshad said:

these internet blackouts in Pakistan aren’t just weird flukes anymore, they’re basically a bad tradition at this point. Like, for real? Two-thirds of the country dropping offline in 2025 on the *exact* same date it happened in 2022? That’s not just a coincidence, that’s groundhog day for tech disasters. Somebody in the government should be sweating bullets over this. How are we supposed to get serious about a digital economy when the whole thing can crash and burn this easily? Feels like building a mansion on quicksand—good luck with that.

He basically hammered home the point that having solid internet these days is just as crucial as having electricity. I mean, think about it — freelancers, students, hospitals, banks, everyone’s hanging by that digital thread. You cut the connection for even an hour? Boom, Pakistan loses millions, and honestly, it just makes us look bad on the global stage.

WISPAP keeps banging the drum—like, seriously, nonstop—about how we need more players in the internet game. They’re all for mixing things up: more competition, local internet exchanges, plus actual investment in backup systems. Arshad even pointed out that when the internet goes sideways nationwide, it’s usually these smaller ISPs that manage to keep little corners of the country connected. But here’s the kicker: unless there are tougher, smarter policies in place, these small guys just can’t pick up the slack when the big pipes go down.