Internet contact with Pakistan is affected

Mobile telephone links were somewhat difficult, but the land lines were normal, according to Tanvir Khawaja, President of the Dubai-based Pakistan Business Council.

Etisalat’s submarine cable laying and maintenance subsidiary had received notification about the damage to the undersea cable 35 kms off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. Telecommunications in the country has been badly affected by the incident.

Omar Jassim bin Kalban, CEO, e-marine, said: “We have mobilised our Cable Ship Etisalat, and it is already on its way to Karachi with full crew and required equipment. As it is not yet clear what exactly caused the damage, CS Etisalat is fully prepared to lift the SMW-III cable from its undersea buried status, investigate, and carry out repairs.”

Khawaja said yesterday that he had received no complaints about land lines and his personal experience was that he was able to connect to Pakistan through this medium without any problem.

However, it was sometimes difficult to get connected through mobile telephone, he added.

Tanvir said that the serious problem was related to the Internet. “Sometimes it is working and sometimes not,” he said, adding he had sent two important business emails to Pakistan on Tuesday. Yesterday, he received information that only one of the two had reached the concerned party.

Meanwhile, Etisalat’s Operations and Engineering departments are working to reroute traffic between the two countries via satellite and the second submarine cable to ensure continuation of service. Etisalat has a total of around 50,000 international calling circuits out of which around 3,400 are between UAE and Pakistan.

Etisalat’s overseas call booking No. 151 received enquiries about the disruption and requests to connect to Pakistan, according to an official, who said that some 55 per cent of the capacity was not operative.