Internet, phone service crawl as cables 'snap'

International phone calls from the UAE were disrupted and Internet service crawled to a halt Wednedsay when two submarine fibre-optic cable systems “snapped” in the Mediterranean.

The cables link the Middle East with Europe, but the slowdown was felt the world over, according to local telecom operators. The disruption, whose cause remains unknown, has wreaked havoc among millions of internet and phone users, etisalat and du said in a statement.

Du said two submarine fibre-optic cables, FLAG Telecom and SEA-ME-WE 4, were “damaged”.

“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and assure them that we will keep them informed of the situation on a continuous basis,” said etisalat in a statement.

A company spokesperson said they are working closely with the concerned operators for urgent repair work “to ensure the links with major global internet hubs are restored at the earliest.”

The company said it has activated backup links which meant that normal Internet browsing and essential traffic will continue to work “at reasonable speeds”.

At the Dubai Media and Internet free zones and the Knowledge Village, web access crawled to halt.

“It’s a day gone to waste. They’re not telling us what time it’s coming back.

And they’re not even sure whether it’s coming back tomorrow,” a Media City executive said.

A du spokesperson told XPRESS the degradation of internet services and international voice calls only occurred for some customers during peak times.

“We are working actively with the submarine cable system operators to ascertain the reasons for the cables being cut, and they are working to give affected operators a recovery schedule.”

Etisalat said it has already started migrating internet and international voice traffic through other cable systems that have not been affected.

“Some congestion may be expected at peak times until this issue is resolved. We will keep our customers updated on its progress.”