ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Sunday denied speculation that the government played any role in throttling internet speeds amid the ongoing nationwide internet outage, calling it “totally false”.
“I want to assure the public that the government has not shut down or slowed down the internet,” she said at a press conference, after companies and internet service providers alleged that the government had installed firewalls to monitor internet traffic, which led to service disruptions.
She explained that when large numbers of people use virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass content delivery networks and local caches and connect directly to live servers, it can put extra strain on those servers and ultimately slow down internet speeds.
“Even if you’re using a VPN on your phone, you may find your device automatically slows down as the increased traffic puts pressure on your internet, slowing it down for a few days,” she said.
“I can say under oath that the government has not shut down or slowed down the internet,” she said.
Khawaja said on Thursday that the government had ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and other relevant agencies to submit a report after the internet connectivity issues came to light.
On August 21, the Lahore High Court summoned representatives of the federal government, the Ministry of Information and the PTA over the internet disruptions.
Published August 18, 2024 19:16 IST
