debtOr when he advertised a free online tech-skills class, it got hundreds of likes on Facebook and eventually 1,500 people signed up. But on the first day last week, only a handful of those registrants were able to log in to the live session, and the internet was moving at a snail’s pace.
“We received hundreds of complaints,” said Warda Noor, founder and course instructor at XWave, an IT training company based in Raya, Punjab province, Pakistan.
What is the domestic internet speed? Dropped The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (Wispap) said internet connection speeds have fallen by 30-40 percent in the past few weeks, costing Pakistani businesses hundreds of millions of dollars, according to IT companies.
Those who were able to connect to Noor’s lecture complained of audio dropouts and poor connection. “We were forced to cut the two-hour lecture to one hour, and the Q&A portion of the program was cut,” she said.
Although live sessions have now been replaced with recorded lessons, Noor says it’s “just not the same.”
Many in the IT and software industry believe the turmoil is due to the government’s testing of a new nationwide Internet firewall.
“On the one hand, the new government is promising an information technology revolution in Pakistan, but on the other hand, it is completely suppressing it,” Noor said.
The government has repeatedly denied responsibility for the problem but has acknowledged plans for a firewall to regulate and block malicious content and protect government networks.
Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said on Sunday that her team had been working “tirelessly” with internet service providers to resolve the issue. Blaming Pakistan for its “large population” To put strain on the network.
“Given the cyber attacks Pakistan is facing, it is the government’s right to take steps to safeguard its national interests,” she said.
Khawaja said the firewall would give the Pakistani government access to those conducting “anti-national propaganda.” Iran, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and several other countries already have such firewalls in place.
After the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan last year sparked riots, the Pakistani government blocked and slowed down social media sites that had fostered support for Khan.
Platform X has been blocked since the February election over “national security” concerns, and supporters of Khan’s party point out that he is the most popular Pakistani on the platform, with nearly 21 million followers.
If the new firewall is the cause of the massive chaos the country is experiencing, there should have been some kind of warning. Pasha The association has approximately 1,500 member software and IT companies.
“It makes sense to take steps in the interest of national security, but in retrospect it could have been better planned and managed,” he said.
Azam Mughal, a cybersecurity expert at P@SHA, said his members are reporting huge financial losses. “International clients are telling these companies that they no longer want to commission projects from them because in the tech world, everything has to be delivered on time,” Mughal said.
He said companies could have been given warning: “Whenever new software is implemented, it is tested in a close lab environment to anticipate any initial struggles. But that was not done.”
“Our investigation found that internet outages over the past few months have cost the country up to $300 million in losses,” he said.
Pakistan recorded $298 million IT exports were worth £228 million in June, up 33% from a year ago. IT exports were worth $3.2 billion in the financial year that ended in June, up from $2.5 billion in 2023.
Source: www.theguardian.com
