WORLD NEWS | Internet outages in Pakistan cost over $2 billion

Islamabad [Pakistan]May 16 (ANI): The country lost Rs 2.49 billion in Pakistani currency after the Pakistani government moved to suspend internet services and block social media platforms, The Tribune reported.

Following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, violent protests broke out across Pakistan and the central government announced an internet shutdown, but the plan backfired.

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The days-long outage caused widespread disruption to businesses, e-commerce and online education. The tech industry has also called for urgent action, citing the impact on growth and innovation.

Not only that, according to The Express Tribune, after the shutdown, Pakistan saw a lot of anger from citizens, which they saw as an attack on freedom of speech itself.

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International agencies have expressed concern over the blackout in Pakistan, calling for the restoration of internet services in the country and for the government to respect fundamental freedoms.

“Freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and the rule of law are key to resolving political conflicts,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

Amnesty International, meanwhile, called the service’s shutdown a “human rights violation”. “The ban on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has also created an environment of tolerance for other human rights abuses in the dark of internet shutdowns. Restrictions must be lifted immediately,” said Rimmel Mohydin, Amnesty International’s regional campaigner.

The country, already facing economic problems, has now been hit hard and the business sector has been hit hard. The move drew widespread criticism from businesses, entrepreneurs and tech industry experts who expressed concern about the economic fallout.

The Federal Revenue Board also lost about Rs 200 crore in revenue as business activities were affected, but the Pakistan Software Export Association (PSEA) said the information technology sector was doing business at $12 million a day. As a result, PSEA said the IT sector lost Rs 1,000 crore in three days, Tribune Express reported.

According to the person in charge of a telecommunications company, mobile broadband services account for about 60% of its total revenue. Hence, they earn about Rs 820 crore per day. In addition, the government receives about 35% of the revenue.

This calculation is based on the fact that telcos earned around Rs 5,000 crore last year from cellular services. However, this is only an industry estimate. According to the Tribune, the overall economic damage to the country could be huge. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)