Internet Disrupts Across Asia And The Middle East: Undersea Cable Cut Yet Again

Parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe experienced Internet and telephone outages since Friday when three undersea cables between Italy and Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea were damaged.

This is not the first time this year that these cables have been cut. In January, both the Sea Me We 4 and Flag cables were cut. Flag’s cable was reportedly cut by ships anchored off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.

The affected cable systems, which run from Alexandria in northern Egypt to Sicily in southern Italy, carry more than 75 percent of traffic between the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

It’s still unclear how the cables were damaged or when they will be fixed. Reliance Globalcom, a communications provider in India, told Bloomberg News that there was no time frame for getting the network fixed. France Telecom said it plans to send a boat to fix the problem and should have service restored to normal by December 31, according to Bloomberg.

The cable system that was cut is known as SMW4 cable or South East Asia- Middle East-Western Europe 4. It connects 12 countries: Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy and France.

Vodafone’s cell phone service in Egypt has been affected by the cable failure, according to Bloomberg. Mobile phone service between Europe and Asia on Orange was also disrupted, the Bloomberg article said. Orange officials told Bloomberg that at one point as much as 55 percent of voice traffic in Saudi Arabia, 52 percent in Egypt, and 82 percent in India was out of service.

More Information Here, Here and Here.