The multinational software giant Microsoft warned on Sunday that “undersea fiber cuts” in the Red Sea were causing further delays in network traffic for its Azure cloud computing platform in some parts of the Middle East.
Microsoft stated that its network has been impacted since Saturday, although it did not explain why the underwater connections were disconnected.
According to the company’s statement, “network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted.”
A number of undersea cable outages in the Red Sea have deteriorated internet connectivity in a number of nations, including India and Pakistan, according to the internet access monitoring group NetBlocks.
Since Yemen’s Houthi rebels started attacking passing merchant vessels in late 2023, in what the group claimed were acts of solidarity with the Palestinians amid the Israeli war on Gaza, there has been increasing concern about the condition of the international internet and telecom cables that have followed shipping routes through the Red Sea.
A group of major telecom companies has long been in charge of installing and running underwater cables, but in recent years, internet behemoths have essentially taken over as they try to keep up with the rapidly increasing volumes of data.
Global trade, financial transactions, public services, digital health, and education are made possible by the approximately 1.4 million kilometers (almost 900,000 miles) of fiber optic cables that are installed on the ocean floor.
Submarine cable damage is not unusual.
Around three outages occur every week, or 150 to 200 outages annually on average, according to the International Cable Protection Committee.
The great bulk of damage to the lines that has been documented is thought to be caused by fishing and anchoring.
Age, abrasions, and device failure are additional natural threats to the wires.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
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