Islamabad/Dubai (NY Today) Internet service has been disrupted in many countries in Asia and the Middle East due to the cutting of undersea internet cables in the Red Sea. According to experts, this incident happened on Saturday, but the real reason has not been revealed yet.
According to Al Arabiya, technology giant Microsoft announced that users of its Azure platform may experience delays in using the Internet because several fiber cables in the Red Sea have been cut.
There are growing concerns that Yemen’s Houthi fighters may be carrying out a pressure campaign by targeting cables in the Red Sea to force Israel to end the war in Gaza, although the Houthis have denied such attacks in the past.
According to Internet monitoring organization NetBlocks, “multiple undersea cables in the Red Sea have been affected, causing poor internet connectivity in several countries”, including India and Pakistan. The agency said the problem was caused by a fault in the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The SMW4 cable is managed by Indian company Tata Communications while the IMEWE cable is operated by an international consortium overseen by Alcatel-Lucent. Both companies did not immediately comment.
Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) also confirmed that internet has been affected due to the cutting of undersea cables in the Red Sea.