ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, mobile and broadband services for Zong customers were interrupted in several cities, allegedly because a new web management system (WMS) was being installed.
Customers of the network, especially business clients, noticed connectivity problems at midday and complained about service deterioration and even abrupt blackouts on social media.
Zong admitted the disruptions when reacting to users’ complaints on social media, despite neither the business nor the telecom regulator, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, having issued an official statement on these matters.
Interestingly, users in Karachi reported the worst disruptions; there had been no reports of jamming connected to security, unlike in the federal capital prior to the SCO moot, nor had there been any limitations in place, unlike in some areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to PTA sources, the “firewall” update will be finished by the end of October.
Around 11:30 a.m., M. Sarfaraz, an employee of a private company in Islamabad, filed a complaint regarding poor signals and a total outage of mobile data services.
“After realizing that only the Zong connection had extremely weak signals, I immediately thought that authorities must be testing jammers in Islamabad,” he continued.
Zong responded as follows to a user via its official X account: “Our Network services are now back to normal.” I apologize for the earlier inconvenience. We are grateful for your understanding and patience. Now you ought to be able to browse, send texts, and make calls without any issues.
Zong, one of the nation’s four major mobile operators, accounts for about 26% of all cellular users.
An insider in the organization ascribed the problem to WMS development. They claimed that the content filtering system’s testing and installation were nearing completion.
A senior PTA official informed Dawn that an upgrade to a firewall or content filtering system was underway and would be finished by the last week of October in order to defend against cyberattacks.
Authorities have also issued warnings about service delays in numerous KP districts due to the scheduled Jirga by the recently outlawed Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement and in Islamabad in the upcoming days due to security concerns following the SCO meeting next week.
The official continued, “But this is probably just a temporary inconvenience for the customers, and by the end of next week, the service quality will be back to normal.”
