Internet services slowed to a crawl in parts of the Middle East, India and Pakistan this weekend after cables in the Red Sea were severed.
Microsoft confirmed that the cable disruptions had degraded internet usage in several countries. Its Azure cloud services were among those affected.
It was not clear what caused the incident. Services appeared to be improving by Sunday morning, but disruption could run on for days or weeks, experts believe.
There have been fears that cables in the Red Sea could be attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. They have denied attacking lines in the past. Cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships. About 70 per cent of past incidents were accidental.
In the UAE, customers of telecoms companies Du and Etisalat said home broadband and mobile services were running significantly slower on Saturday night, with many websites and apps failing to load.
By Sunday, services had sped up, though internet monitor DownDetector.ae showed some user reports of problems for both companies.
On Monday, there were still complaints of slow service.
“Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair, as such we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime,” Microsoft said early on Sunday.
Internet observatory NetBlocks, which tracks cyber security and digital infrastructure around the world, said there was slow service reported in countries across the region, including the UAE.
“A series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries including #Pakistan and #India; the incident is attributed to failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah,” NetBlocks wrote on X.
“Similar internet disruptions have been observed on Etisalat and Du networks in the United Arab Emirates, resulting in slow speeds and intermittent access as engineers work to resolve the issue impacting multiple countries.”
Du's help desk services on social media fielded a raft of requests for help. It responded to a series of messages on social media from customers whose internet had ground to a halt.
Du later issued a statement on the problem. “You may experience some slowness in our data services due to an International submarine cable cut,” the company posted on X on Sunday.
“Our technical teams are working with international providers to resolve the issue. We will keep you updated with the latest developments.”
Etisalat said it was working to address the disruption in services in a message shared on X on Sunday.
“Dear valued customers, you may experience slowness in data services due to an interruption in the international submarine cables,” Etisalat said.
“Our technical teams are currently working to address the issue. We will keep you updated with the latest developments as they occur. We thank you for your understanding and co-operation.”
Pakistan Telecommunications Co noted that the cuts had taken place in a statement on Saturday. Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the disruption and has not commented.
The Red Sea is a critical telecoms route, connecting Europe to Africa and Asia through Egypt. Repairing subsea cables in the area can prove to be difficult, particularly since Yemen’s Houthis continue to attack vessels in the area.
In March last year, at least three subsea cables were cut, which affected internet traffic in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. The US government found that the anchor from the Rubymar, the ship the Houthis had critically damaged, had dragged along the seabed and cut the cables in question.
Between November 2023 and December last year, the Houthis attacked more than 100 ships with missiles and drones over the Israel-Gaza war. There have been several further attacks this year. The Houthis have sunk four vessels and killed at least eight mariners.
Key communication services remain vulnerable
Dr Raed AlHazme, an IT expert who has served as chief information officer of the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia, said the widespread internet disruption highlighted the dangers of over-reliance on such communication networks.
“These incidents are not new; similar outages have happened in recent years due to cable faults or cuts.” Each time, they remind us how fragile global digital infrastructure can be when over-reliant on external routes," he said.
“There is a common belief that most of the world’s data travels through satellites, but the truth is different. Satellites carry less than 1 per cent of global internet traffic. Subsea cables, on the other hand, are responsible for more than 97 per cent to 99 per cent of worldwide data.
“Although traffic was quickly rerouted through alternative cables, the incident teaches us critical lessons. Relying solely on international infrastructure is a major risk, and digital sovereignty is not a luxury – it is a strategic necessity to ensure continuity and security of critical systems.”
