Internet breaks down across Middle East

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 30 Jan 2008 at 18:02

Internet services have broken down across parts of the Middle East and India, due to damage of an undersea cable in the Mediterranean.

Egypt's Telecommunications Ministry claims the damage caused disruption to around 70% of the country's internet network. The ministry says it has no knowledge of how the cable was cut, but that service would probably take several days to return to normal.

India has also reported serious disruptions to its services, claiming to have lost around half of its capacity. One Indian ISP is already linking the problem to the Egyptian outage.

"There has been a cable cut on several cable systems in Alexandria, Egypt which has impacted internet connectivity in India," says Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), an internet service provider.

VSNL says its service has been "largely restored" by diverting to another cable. However, a spokesperson for India's ISPs says the country is likely to receive a "degraded" service for the next 10 to 15 days, while repairs are underway.

Disruptions have also been reported in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.