Pakistan is set to experience a major boost in internet connectivity following the launch of the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable.
The South-East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE 6) cable spans 19,200 kilometers, linking Pakistan with countries between Singapore and France. The high-capacity fiber network is designed to provide one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe.
Latest: Google Cloud Unveils TalayLink Subsea Cable, New Connectivity Hubs in Australia and Thailand
With a total capacity exceeding 100 terabits per second, Pakistan has been allocated 13.2 terabits per second, with 4 terabits per second activated immediately. The move is expected to expand the country’s international bandwidth and strengthen support for cloud services, data centers, fintech, e-commerce, streaming platforms, and the broader digital economy.
According to the ministry, SEA-ME-WE 6 features more fiber pairs and more than double the capacity of previous SEA-ME-WE systems, offering enhanced resilience and diversification across high-traffic Asia-Europe routes. The network includes trans-Egypt geo-diversified crossings and landing points, allowing for rapid scalability, improved fault protection, and lower total network ownership costs for participating service providers.
The consortium behind the project 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.
Related: International Cable Breaks in Red Sea Cause Latency Surge Across Asia and Gulf
This development follows Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd’s successful landing of the Africa-1 submarine internet cable in Karachi in February, and Transworld Associates’ connection of the Africa-2 cable to its Karachi landing station in December.
Currently, Pakistan receives internet through six submarine cables with a combined capacity of 13 terabits per second: Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SMW-4), and India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) operated by PTCL; and South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 5 (SMW-5) and Transworld Associates 1 (TWA-1) managed by Transworld Associates.
The addition of SEA-ME-WE 6 is expected to further strengthen Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and position the country as a more resilient hub in global internet connectivity.
