Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Saturday made a breakthrough when it connected the country to the Africa-1 submarine cable in an effort to significantly improve Pakistan’s digital infrastructure.
Africa-1 submarine cable has the capacity of transmitting huge amounts of data making it an important step towards better and faster connectivity in Pakistan.
PTCL released a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) today: “The groundbreaking celebration for connecting to the high-capacity Africa-1 submarine cable is set for February 22, 2025, at Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited’s (PTCL) landing site at Sea View, Karachi. This marks a transformative milestone in advancing Pakistan’s digital connectivity.”
It should be highlighted that the connecting with Africa-1 Submarine cable is a mega project as consumers will be able to take its benefit by early 2026.
The Africa-1 system with which PTCL has connected spans around 10,000 kilometres and links to numerous countries.
Pakistan, through the Africa-1 system, will be linked to strategic locations such as:
- Saudia Arabaia
- Sudan
- UAE
- Egypt
- Algeria
- Kenya
- France
- Djibouti
PTCL Africa-1 project:
It merits a mention that PTCL initially decided to invest $59.5 million in 2020 for the Africa-1 submarine cable project. The company has also disclosed that it will have completed around 75% of its total investment this year for a project which started four years ago.
Once the system is ready for service, it will enable the PTCL to improve their regional and international connectivity while generating revenue as well.
It should be noted that Pakistan experienced significant and frequent internet disruptions in 2024 including shutdowns. In January 2025, an independent VPN reviewer, Top10VPN, released a report in which it revealed that Pakistan was the top country to suffer most financial losses due to internet shutdowns.
Meanwhile, the government leaders like Minister of State for IT and Telecom, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, continuously denied the reports of government’s involvement in the internet disruptions. However, in January 2025, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) during a Senate Standing Committee disclosed that internet shutdowns are carried out at government’s instructions.
