KARACHI: Pakistan has strengthened its global digital connectivity with the deployment of the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable system, a 19,200-km “high-capacity” fiberoptic network linking Pakistan to countries between Singapore and France, the country’s Press Information Department (PID) said on Saturday.

SEA-ME-WE 6, which offers more than 100 terabits per second (Tbps) of total capacity, will provide one of the lowest-latency routes between southeast Asia, the Middle East and western Europe, according to the PID.

Under this deployment, Pakistan has been allocated a total of 13.2 Tbps, with 4 Tbps being activated immediately to expand the country’s international bandwidth capacity and enhance support for cloud services, data centers, fintech, e-commerce, streaming, and the broader digital economy.

“The system enables rapid scalability, improved fault protection, and lower total network ownership costs for participating service providers, while adding an essential new redundancy layer to the global Internet backbone,” the PID said.

Pakistan has a fast-growing Internet user bases, with more than 130 million broadband connections, but access remains uneven. The country’s IT exports reached a record $3.8 billion in FY 2024–25, up from $3.2 billion the previous year, marking an 18 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Pakistan Software Export Board.

In Sept., the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) approved the adoption of Wi-Fi 7 and future Wi-Fi generations in the 6 GHz band (5925–6425MHz) in line with parameters earlier cleared for Wi-Fi 6E, the telecom regulator said. Wi-Fi 7 offers ultra-high data rates, low latency and strong reliability, enabling 8K streaming, augmented or virtual reality (AR/VR) applications and industrial automation.

The move placed the South Asian country of over 240 million among early adopters in the Asia-Pacific region and highlights its commitment to digital innovation and leadership. The Pakistani government, which is under a $7 billion IMF program approved last year, has also pledged to expand broadband penetration and digitize public services as part of wider economic reforms.