CPEC & Digital Landscape of Pakistan

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is not only a connectivity network of roads, railways, ports, oil and gas pipelines but it also provides cross-border fiber optic cable connectivity between china and Pakistan. The 820-kilometer-long fiber optic cable project at a cost of $46 million stretches from China’s western Xinjiang region and enters Pakistan through Khunjerab border and then travels through Gilgit- Baltistan (G-B) to Mansehra, KPK to connect to Muzaffarabad, AJK and onwards to Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where it is connected with existing optical connectivity network of Pakistan3. The cable is also connected with the first ever local Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Islamabad to exchange and control internet traffic. The potential advantage of IXP is that different Internet Service providers (ISPs) can connect at a single point, which will provide secure interconnection point to exchange the local information within country by avoiding international network links. Moreover, it will significantly reduce internet cost with overall improved internet performance. On the other hand, Fiber optics cable will not only digitally connect Pakistan with China but also will link up with several countries of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), spreading across landlocked Central Asian countries and Europe4. This digital connectivity with rest of the world through China will provide more secure path for internet traffic as in the existing fiber optic network some of the internet traffic routed through India may cause a security risk for Pakistan. An alternative landing station for submarine cable is also planned to be set up at Gwadar Port, as Pakistan has only one landing station located at Karachi to handle all the country’s internet traffic, any fault in this landing station will interrupt the internet throughout the country. The proposed landing under CPEC will eradicate this problem which will help to reduce dependence on existing submarine cable routes and provide more secure and reliable international communication network…….