Internet slowdown due to deliberate cable cut near Egypt

India

oi-Prahlad

New Delhi, April 1: After series spam attacks, now undersea Internet cables are being targeted.

Egypt's naval forces captured three scuba divers, who were trying to cut undersea Internet cables in the Mediterranean. This has affected Internet speed in India. Added to deliberate cutting was damage caused to another cable by a ship.

According to media reports, the three submarine cables that have been affected go by the acronyms SMW4, IMEWE and EIG.

The SMW4 or the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 cable is approximately 18,800 kilometres long, and provides the primary Internet backbone between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.

I-ME-WE stands for India-Middle East-Western Europe and is 13,000-kilometre submarine communications cable system between India and France.

Meanwhile, state-run BSNL has released a statement saying that its Internet capacity has dropped by 21 percent due to fiber cuts in three undersea cables that are responsible for global connectivity.

This is not the first time cable cuts have affected the Mideast in recent years. Errant ships' anchors are often blamed. A cable cut can cause data to become congested and flow the long way around the world.

OneIndia News