Efforts are on to restore the only submarine Internet link of Pakistan from outside the world which was suspended following a fault that developed in the deep sea on Monday night, bringing the country's entire Internet traffic to almost a complete halt.
Experts believe that complete restoration of Internet link with the world would take at least three days if the engineers, who were dispatched from a port of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday afternoon, reach in time and carryout the gigantic operation.
The experts also said that minimum time for restoring the Internet link would be three days, while it may take seven days to overcome the fault. Sources told Business Recorder that a fault was finally detected some 35 nautical miles (69km) South West of Hawkesbay in the deep sea in submarine cable "South East Asia Middle East Western Europe-III" (SEAMEWE-III).
The Singapore-based telecom utility, Singtel manages the maintenance and repair work of SEAMEWE-III. The Singtel has now hired a firm 'E-Marine' to troubleshoot the fault and rectify it for which a team of engineers was dispatched from Dubai through a small ship and is likely to reach here within two-days.
Another source said, "Due to high swell after the commencement of monsoon in the Arabian Sea it would appear likely that the team of engineers may face some delay in reaching here.
A source said a fault has been detected in the spur (Loop) of SEAMEWE-III that links the country internationally, while the traffic of other countries has not been affected through this.
Due to this sudden suspension, it has affected the country's entire data and web communication with other international destinations, a source said, adding that the financial institutions in the country faced the worst kinds of problems as they are unable to receive or send transactions and correspondence with their counterparts abroad.
The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are facing problems in fulfilling their service level agreements with their clients for which they have to pay the damages, which are much bigger than their earnings.
Currently, the ISPs are incurring a loss of Rs 10 million to Rs 12 million daily on their direct income from sales to Internet subscribers in the country.
The suspension has also hit a wide range of businesses, including travel agents, exchange companies, software and web developing companies and cyber cafes.