Pakistan
Pakistan connects to the global submarine cable network through three active systems spanning routes toward Europe, Africa and East Asia, with a fourth cable in the planning stage adding to a gradually diversifying picture.
Connectivity at a glance
- Cable systems
- 3active
- 1 planned
- Landing points
- 0
- Resilience score
- 29
Cable systems serving Pakistan
| Cable | Status | Ready for service | Length | Design capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PEACE Cable | active | 10 November 2022 | — | Up to 24 Tbit/s (per fiber pair) |
| Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) | active | 23 June 2017 | — | 100 Tbit/s (20 Tbit/s per fibre pair) |
| I-ME-WE | active | 2010 }} | 12,091 km | 5.6 Tbit/s |
| Africa-1 | planned | — | — | 96 Tbit/s (12 Tbit/s per fiber pair)}} |
Landing points
Landing point records for Pakistan are being compiled.
Submarine cable connectivity
Pakistan sits at a useful crossroads for submarine cable routing, with its Arabian Sea coastline placing it on the arc between the Gulf of Aden approaches and the Indian subcontinent. That geography has attracted multiple cable systems over the years, though the country's documented landing infrastructure remains sparse in the public record.
Three active cables serve Pakistan. The oldest, I-ME-WE (India–Middle East–Western Europe), entered service in 2010 and spans more than 12,000 kilometres, threading through the Middle East toward Western Europe. It provided Pakistan with one of its earlier direct links to international bandwidth. Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), commissioned in 2017, added a second major route along a broadly similar corridor — connecting South and Southeast Asia to Europe via the Gulf and the Red Sea. The PEACE Cable, which became active in 2022, takes a different orientation, running toward East Africa and onward to Europe via a route that traces the Pakistani coast toward the Arabian Peninsula.
Route diversity and resilience
The combination of these three systems offers more diversity than a single-cable dependency, but the routes share significant geographic overlap. I-ME-WE and AAE-1 in particular follow comparable corridors through the Middle East and the Red Sea chokepoint — meaning a fault or disruption in that corridor could affect both systems simultaneously. The PEACE Cable introduces some variation by virtue of its distinct ownership and construction, though it too passes through the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden region.
This concentration of routing through a relatively narrow geographic band is a structural characteristic common across South Asian connectivity, not a condition unique to Pakistan. Genuine path diversity would require cables reaching the country by substantially different ocean routes, and the current mix does not fully achieve that.
Future capacity
Africa-1, listed as planned, would add a further cable to Pakistan's portfolio once commissioned. The details of its route and capacity are not yet fully documented in the public record, but its presence in the pipeline suggests continued investment in the country's international connectivity.
Landing point data
Landing point locations for Pakistan's cables have not yet been fully documented in this register. This profile will be updated as verified infrastructure data becomes available.