Abstract We report on the interstellar scintillation from pulsar J2048−1616 for the first time at 732, 1369, and 3100 MHz observed with the Parkes 64 m radio telescope. Dynamic spectra are obtained and diffractive parameters are derived from two-dimensional autocorrelation analyses. The frequency dependencies of the observed diffractive scintillation timescale and decorrelation bandwidth indicate that the electron density fluctuations in the interstellar medium (ISM) do not follow the Kolmogorov spectrum. The secondary spectra are calculated by forming the Fourier power spectra of the corresponding dynamic spectra. Prominent parabolic arcs are revealed in the secondary spectra at three frequencies, which indicate that they originated from scattering by a thin screen. The scattering screen is approximately located centrally between the pulsar and Earth assuming that the ISM is stationary.