KARACHI: In a big step towards digital Pakistan, a new internet cable has landed in the country to boost the internet speed.
As per details, Pakistan has strengthened its global digital connectivity with the deployment of the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable system, a 19,200-km high-capacity fibre network linking Pakistan to countries between Singapore and France.
Offering more than 100 Tbps of total capacity, SEA-ME-WE 6 will provide one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe, according to a news release of the ministry of IT.
The consortium includes Transworld Associates (Pakistan), Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Bharti Airtel, Dhiraagu, Djibouti Telecom, Mobily, Orange, Singtel, Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Malaysia, and Telin.
SEA-ME-WE 6 features more fibre pairs and more than double the capacity of previous SEA-ME-WE systems, enhancing resilience and diversification across high-traffic Asia-Europe routes through trans-Egypt geo-diversified crossings and landing points.
The system enables rapid scalability, improved fault protection, and lower total network ownership costs for participating service providers, while adding an essential new redundancy layer to the global internet backbone.
Under this deployment, Pakistan has been allocated a total of 13.2 Tbps, with 4 Tbps being activated immediately expanding the country’s international bandwidth capacity and enhancing support for cloud services, data centres, fintech, e-commerce, streaming, and the broader digital economy.
Pakistan Internet Firewall to Get Major Upgrade
Pakistan’s internet infrastructure is set for a major upgrade. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has begun work on a large-scale firewall renewal project.
The move aims to strengthen the country’s digital defences and protect critical systems from rising cybersecurity threats.
According to the sources, the PTA has launched the initiative to modernise its cybersecurity setup and improve protection for national telecom networks.
The estimated cost of the project is between Rs 40 million and Rs 120 million. The total amount will depend on the firewall model, subscription duration, and overall scope of the upgrade.
Pakistan Internet Firewall
The new system will give PTA stronger control and visibility over network traffic. It will also help prevent cyberattacks that have become more frequent and sophisticated in recent years.
The renewal plan covers PTA Headquarters as well as all its regional offices.
It includes the installation of next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), renewal of software licenses, and integration with PTA’s data centres and monitoring units.
These new generation firewalls are developed with features of advanced technology like intrusion prevention, web filtering, malware detection, VPN protection and checking.
Collectively, these tools will offer a full-fledged defence against hacking and unauthorised access.
