PTA to brief Senate on nationwide internet after Supreme Court link fails

The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology has asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to submit a nationwide briefing on internet services within one month after a connectivity failure disrupted the Supreme Court's communication link with its Quetta registry.

The development was reported on Thursday from a committee meeting chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan. According to ProPakistani, Senator Kamran Murtaza raised the matter during the proceedings and told the committee that the two judicial locations could not establish their connection because of an internet issue. The link between the principal seat of the Supreme Court and its Quetta registry is used for regular judicial communication, and its breakdown left both sides unable to connect.

Senator Palwasha Khan said that complaints about internet disruptions in Islamabad were also being received, which prompted senators to seek a broader assessment of internet services across Pakistan. The committee members concluded that the problem should not be treated as a one-off court connectivity failure, and they asked the telecom regulator to report on the state of services in all parts of the country.

PTA Chairman Hafeez Ur Rehman told the committee that the regulator would provide a nationwide briefing on internet services within one month. The Senate panel is now set to receive a countrywide update from the PTA covering service availability and network-related concerns. The update is expected to address the quality and reach of internet services, although no specific areas or regions were singled out in the reports.

PhoneWorld also reported the disruption and the committee's demand for a nationwide connectivity briefing. Neither ProPakistani nor PhoneWorld identified the cause of the outage or how long it lasted. The reports did not say whether the Supreme Court's operations in Quetta were delayed as a result of the failed connection.

The one-month deadline gives PTA time to collect data from operators and service providers across the country, and the committee will use the briefing to decide whether further action is needed. Internet reliability remains a recurring concern for businesses, courts and government offices across Pakistan.