ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has significantly expanded its international internet bandwidth with the activation of capacity on the newly launched South-East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) submarine cable system, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on Saturday.
The 19,200-kilometre fibre-optic network links Pakistan to major digital hubs from Singapore to France, providing one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe. Part of a global consortium project, the system delivers a total capacity exceeding 100 terabits per second (Tbps).
Pakistan has been allocated 13.2 Tbps, of which 4 Tbps has been activated immediately, marking a substantial enhancement in the country’s international connectivity. Officials say the upgrade will support cloud services, data centres, fintech, e-commerce, streaming platforms and the broader digital economy.
The SEA-ME-WE 6 system includes more fibre pairs and more than double the capacity of earlier SEA-ME-WE cables, improving resilience and performance across high-traffic Asia-Europe routes. It also offers geo-diversified crossings through Egypt, enhanced fault protection, rapid scalability and reduced operational costs for participating telecom operators.
The ministry said the project strengthens global internet redundancy and adds a critical new layer to Pakistan’s digital backbone.
This development follows the February 2025 landing of the Africa-1 submarine cable by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) in Karachi, further expanding the nation’s international internet infrastructure.
