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Many countries, including India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, have faced significant disruptions to their internet services following the recent Red Sea cable cuts. Users in these regions have reported slow speeds, increased latency, and interruptions to cloud services. Microsoft acknowledged the issue on its service status page, indicating that customers in the Middle East may have experienced delays. Fortunately, the company later announced that Microsoft Azure services had been restored after engineers successfully rerouted the traffic.
According to network monitoring company NetBlocks, damage was caused to the SMW4 and IMEWE submarine cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tata Communications operates SMW4, whereas IMEWE is operated by a consortium headed by Alcatel Submarine Networks. Such outages disrupted connectivity across several regions. This shows how even minor accidents can plague the digital lives of millions of people.
According to a report from Reuters, sourced from Netblocks, “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, Saudi Arabia.”
The Red Sea is considered a digital highway. Almost 17% of global internet traffic passes through this route, which links Europe with Africa and Asia through Egypt. These cables carry huge volumes of data that power banking, video streaming, cloud platforms, and international communications. Any disruption in the Red Sea will have a significant impact on both consumers and businesses.
Repairing cables here is difficult. Bloomberg pointed out that the continuous attacks by the Houthis on the vessels in the Red Sea have increased the danger of operations for the repair vessels. In contrast to satellites, submarine cables can handle huge amounts of data at greater efficiency and lower cost, constituting essential infrastructure.
After the disruption, Microsoft Azure experienced high latency in the Middle East. However, Microsoft engineers rerouted it within hours. This response highlighted the need for redundancy and quick action when it comes to ensuring the reliability of digital platforms. It somewhat highlighted the dependency on even global cloud services through just a few key routes.
Telecom companies in the UAE, such as Etilasat and Du, also reported slow speeds and intermittent service. Indian and Pakistani users face similar problems. According to the Associated Press, ship anchors could have cut submarine cables, but deliberate sabotage has also been suspected amid regional conflict.
The incident teaches users a hard lesson that the backbone of the digital world is not invincible. The Red Sea Cable Cuts underline the risk of so much critical infrastructure running down one main Internet corridor. While companies like Microsoft were quick to restore services, it becomes evident that these incidents call for more robust cable routes and enhanced protection.
The Red Sea continues to be a crucial connector and a vulnerable point in global connectivity. Submarine cables are crucial for communication between countries, but are susceptible to accidents or intentional damage. If global outages are to be tackled in the near future, investments must be made through alternative routes and better protection for these cables.
