Islamabad: Pakistan has strengthened its global digital connectivity with the deployment of the South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) submarine cable system, the Information Technology Ministry said on Saturday.
The 19,200-kilometre high-capacity fibre network links Pakistan with countries stretching from Singapore to France. According to the ministry, the cable has a total capacity of over 100 terabits per second, providing one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe.
Under the new system, Pakistan has been allocated 13.2 terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth, with 4 Tbps being activated immediately. The expanded capacity is expected to support cloud services, data centres, fintech, e-commerce, streaming platforms, and the broader digital economy.
SEA-ME-WE 6 features more fibre pairs and more than double the capacity of its predecessors, offering improved network resilience and diversified routing through trans-Egypt crossings and multiple landing points. The system also allows rapid scalability, enhanced fault protection, and lower total network ownership costs for participating service providers.
The project consortium includes Pakistan’s Transworld Associates, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Bharti Airtel, Dhiraagu, Djibouti Telecom, Mobily, Orange, Singtel, Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Malaysia, and Telin.
This launch follows recent upgrades to Pakistan’s submarine cable infrastructure, including the landing of the Africa-1 and Africa-2 cables in Karachi earlier this year. Currently, six submarine cables—including AAE-1, SMW4, IMEWE, SMW-5, TWA-1, and PEACE—serve Pakistan, collectively bringing the country’s international internet capacity to 13 Tbps.
Officials said the SEA-ME-WE 6 cable is expected to significantly improve internet speeds, connectivity, and reliability for Pakistan’s businesses and consumers, while providing essential redundancy to the country’s digital infrastructure.
Samra Zulfiqar, a real estate analyst at Zameen.com, is passionate about finding projects that offer buyers the best returns. Her keen insights spotlight the market’s most promising opportunities.
