The ongoing political turmoil in Pakistan following the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan has led to a severe disruption in internet services, greatly affecting people’s lives and businesses. Point-of-sale transactions through digital payment systems have dropped by approximately 50%, and the IT sector is estimated to be losing $3-$4 million per day.
There were hopes that internet services would resume after the Supreme Court declared Khan’s arrest illegal and directed him to approach the Islamabad High Court for further directions. However, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not received any new instructions from the Ministry of Interior, indicating that the restoration of internet connections may not happen soon.
According to the sources, the internet services is expected to restrore after 24 hours.
The suspension of internet services has resulted in telecom operators facing a revenue loss of around Rs820 million. This has dealt a significant blow to the sector, especially considering the already fragile state of the economy.
In addition to the internet shutdown, major social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been blocked, and YouTube services have been slowed down to control the spread of misinformation and panic among the public.
Data from 1LINK, a payment processing company, revealed a decline of 45% in international payment card transactions in terms of volume on May 10 compared to the average during the previous week. The daily value of transactions using international payment cards also decreased by 46% on the same day.
While cash transactions still dominate commercial dealings in Pakistan, digital payments have been experiencing rapid growth in recent times. However, the internet disruption has hampered the progress of the digital payment sector and caused significant financial losses.
