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Internet to Pakistan Goes Down

Posted by Zonk on from the wish-you-were-here dept.

TwobyTwo writes "According to CNN, a power supply problem on an undersea cable has severed all outside Internet connectivity to Pakistan. Many businesses have been seriously impacted. Repairs will involve some disruption to access from other countries, and are tentatively scheduled for overnight." From the article: "'It's a worst-case scenario. We are literally blank,' said a senior foreign banker who declined to be identified. An official at the Karachi stock exchange said Pakistan's main bourse was unaffected as it had its own internal trading system."

5 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. That's pretty stupid by rabtech · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The whole point of the way internet routing works is to allow traffic to route across alternate links when the "best" link goes down.

    Having a single pipe feeding an entire country is pretty damn stupid.

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    Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
    1. Re:That's pretty stupid by gooogle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agreed, it is quite stupid and this should be an eye-opener. Pakistan's infrastructure is lagging behind and in desperate need of an upgrade, however, there aren't many options. There is Iran and Afghanistan to the West which are unstable regions and don't seem like viable options. China in the north but would mean running a cable through the northern regions which are highly unstable (although it seems like the next best option) and then there's India to the right which already has a solid IT infrastructure in place and that's who we are currently routed through.

      A secondary fibre-optic connection is being planned, also through India.

      Some indigenous efforts are also underway but the costs are too high.

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      -- Binary Finary
  2. Re:Get your tinfoil hats here by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Typical slashbot bullshit. Even assuming that the US wanted to do this, why don't they just tap the endpoint(s) instead of spending a billion dollars to send divers down to the bottom of the ocean to connect a pair of headphones to a massive fiber cable that is likely buried in 6 feet of silt?

    You've been watching the Discovery channel too much. This is not a copper phone line that services Vladivostok, and James Bond doesn't really order shaken martinis.

    I cannot believe this kind of thing gets modded up.

  3. Details by gooogle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is caused by a break in the SME-3 cable, in the Arabian sea, some 35 km south of Karachi. The problem started out on Monday morning [ reported on a local slashdot-style forum http://tech.one.com.pk/?q=node/87 ]

    The repair operation is complex and might take up to two weeks possibly causing disruption in India and UAE as well, who are also connected by the same cable.

    SME-3 is Pakistan's primary pipe to the internet and the only backup is through satellite uplink which is providing service to some high ISPs at 10% of regular bandwidth. Call centres are surely going through a real tough time and their business will probably be impacted adversly by this.

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    -- Binary Finary
  4. Re:Undersea cable? by sampson7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, I don't really see them as having many choices. They are on-again off-again at war with India. Afghanistan can't keep its lights on, never mind provide internet connections.

    Iran? China? Wow. Who other sets of political issues. (See pretty map here.)

    Not to mention that a large part of Pakistan's borders are extremely inhospitable mountain regions. The Arabian Sea actually makes sense.