On August 19, a major internet outage struck Pakistan, disrupting connectivity across the country and leaving millions of users offline. “Metrics show a major disruption to internet connectivity across Pakistan with high impact to backbone operator PTCL; overall national connectivity is down to 20% of ordinary levels,” the watchdog said in a post on X. The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (Wispap) estimated that nearly two-thirds of users nationwide were affected. “This is a national failure,” said Shahzad Arshad, Wispap chairman. “Every hour offline costs Pakistan millions and damages our reputation internationally,” he said, urging reforms to diversify providers, build regional exchanges, and eliminate single points of failure.