Undersea Cables Cut; 14 Countries Lose Web -- Updated
Reports from the Mediterranean indicate that two of the undersea cables severed and repaired earlier this year have been cut again, disrupting internet access and phone service between the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Asia. An additional third cable is down in the same region.
The cuts are causing traffic to be re-routed through the United States and elsewhere.
Egypt's communications ministry tells the Associated Press that
the outage has almost completely killed internet services throughout Egypt.
A second report indicates that the three cables that are out include the
SEA-ME-WE 4 cable (also known as SMW4), which went out at 7:28 a.m. local time Friday morning; SEA-ME-WE 3, which went down at 7:33 a.m.; and the
FLAG EA cable, which went out at 8:06 a.m. The cables were cut in the region where they run under the sea between Egypt and Italy. They carry an estimated 90 percent of all data traffic between Europe and the Middle East. SMW 3 and SMW 4 are owned by groups of phone companies; FLAG is owned by Reliance Globalcom.
The SMW 4 and FLAG cables were among
five undersea cables damaged earlier this year in January and February in the Mediterranean, launching
a flurry of conspiracy theories before investigations revealed that at least one of the cuts was caused by
a ship's anchor. When those cables went down, SMW 3 was used to re-route traffic. But this time, SMW 3 is reportedly involved in the outage as well.
A France Telecom report
listed 14 countries affected by the current problem. The Maldives are 100 percent down, followed by India, which has 82 percent disruption. Qatar, Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates were the next most widely affected areas with about 70 percent service interrupted. Disruptions for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan range from 51 percent to 55 percent.
UPDATE: As reader Julian Borg Barthet notes in the comments section, a fourth undersea cable went out Thursday evening in the same region. The cable, the Seabone, is operated by GO and runs between Malta and Sicily. According to the Times of Malta, GO
transferred traffic to a second cable operated by Vodafone. It was the second time in four months that the Seabone cable had failed.
Three undersea cables cut: traffic disturbed between Europe and Asia
3 cables cut this morning (Sea Me We3 partly + Sea Me We4 + FLAG)France Telecom Marine cable ship about to depart
PARIS — France Telecom observed today that 3 major underwater cables were cut: “Sea Me We 4” at 7:28am, “Sea Me We3” at 7:33am and FLAG at 8:06am. The causes of the cut, which is located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia, on sections linking Sicily to Egypt, remain unclear.
Most of the B to B traffic between Europe and Asia is rerouted through the USA. Traffic from Europe to Algeria and Tunisia is not affected, but traffic from Europe to the Near East and Asia is interrupted to a greater or lesser extent (see country list below).
Part of the internet traffic towards Réunion is affected as well as 50% towards Jordan. A first appraisal at 7:44 am UTC gave an estimate of the following impact on the voice traffic (in percentage of out of service capacity):
· Saudi Arabia: 55% out of service
· Djibouti: 71% out of service
· Egypt: 52% out of service
· United Arab Emirates: 68% out of service
· India: 82% out of service
· Lebanon: 16% out of service
· Malaysia: 42% out of service
· Maldives: 100% out of service
· Pakistan: 51% out of service
· Qatar: 73% out of service
· Syria: 36% out of service
· Taiwan: 39% out of service
· Yemen: 38% out of service
· Zambia: 62% out of service
France Telecom immediately alerted one of the two maintenance boats based in the Mediterranean area, the “Raymond Croze”. This France Telecom Marine cable ship based at Seyne-sur-Mer has received its mobilization order early this afternoon and will cast off tonight at 3:00 am with 20 kilometers spare cable on board. It should be on location on Monday morning for a relief mission.
Priority will be given to the recovery of the Sea Me We4 cable, then on the Sea Me We3.
By December 25th, Sea Me We4 could be operating. By December 31st, the situation should be back to normal.Source: France Telecom
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Undersea Cables Cut; 14 Countries Lose Web -- Updated
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