Past

National shutdown

mobile Internet

As the country held its provincial, national, and presidential elections today, Pakistan authorities ordered mobile Internet and phone services to be suspended nationwide to “maintain law and order”. The shutdown began around 02:00 UTC and connectivity was restored after the election starting around 15:00 UTC. Read our Pakistan Election 2024 report on the Pulse Blog for more details.

  • Total Duration 13 hours

Flag of Pakistan Pakistan

Population
247,504,495

Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Not Free

View full country profile for Pakistan

Local impact

As the country held its provincial, national, and presidential elections today, Pakistan authorities ordered mobile Internet and phone services to be suspended nationwide to “maintain law and order”. The shutdown began around 02:00 UTC and connectivity was restored after the election starting around 15:00 UTC. Read our Pakistan Election 2024 report on the Pulse Blog for more details.

Related documentation

Aljazeera reported that the Pakistan Interior Ministry ordered the suspension of mobile phone service nationwide.
Screenshot of news report from Aljazeera noting mobile Internet shutdown happening in Pakistan

Other supporting information

Cloudflare Radar shows Internet traffic for mobile operators Mobilink (Jazz), Telenor Pakistan, and CMPak (Zong) dropping significantly on 8 February 2024 between 1:45 and 2:30 UTC and began returning around 15:00 UTC.

Time series graph showing Internet traffic for Mobilink PK as measured by Cloudflare Radar.
Time series graph showing Internet traffic for Telenor Pakistan as measured by Cloudflare Radar.
Time series graph showing Internet traffic for CM Pakistan Limited as measured by Cloudflare Radar.

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