Islamabad: A recent report by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that the increasing use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) during internet disruptions has further slowed down internet speeds in Pakistan. The rise in VPN traffic has also resulted in a loss of foreign exchange.
According to the PTA report, addressing internet slowdowns requires expanding the capacity of submarine cables. The use of VPNs incurs a cost of one dollar per megabyte, and with an additional 1TB per second (TBPS) of bandwidth, the country faces a loss of approximately $10,000 per minute. VPN usage led to bandwidth consumption reaching 634 GBPS in August, 597 GBPS in September, 815 GBPS in October, and 378 GBPS in November. However, after some improvement in December, this usage remained at 437 GBPS.
The report further highlights that the growing use of VPNs is putting additional pressure on Pakistan’s internet infrastructure. Local Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), which supply 70% of internet traffic in Pakistan, are being bypassed by VPNs, redirecting traffic to international servers and increasing reliance on the already limited capacity of global submarine cables. To tackle internet slowdowns, the capacity of submarine cables needs to be expanded, and there is an urgent need to improve local routing systems to enhance internet speeds.
