Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast

From the BBC:

A submarine cable in the Middle East has been snapped, adding to global net problems caused by breaks in two lines under the Mediterranean on Wednesday.

The Falcon cable, owned by a firm which operates another damaged cable, led to a "critical" telecom breakdown, according to one local official.

The cause of the latest break has not been confirmed but a repair ship has been deployed, said owner Flag Telecom.

The earlier break disrupted service in Egypt, the Middle East and India.

"The situation is critical for us in terms of congestion," Omar Sultan, chief executive of Dubai's ISP DU, told The Associated Press, following the most recent break.

Wednesday's incident caused disruption to 70% of the nationwide internet network in Egypt on Wednesday, while India suffered up to 60% disruption.

Flag Telecom said a repair ship was expected to arrive at the site of the first break - 8.3km from Alexandria in Egypt - on 5 February, with repair work expected to take a week.

A repair ship deployed to the second break - 56km from Dubai - was expected to arrive at the site in the "next few days", the firm said.

Web returns

The first cable - the Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) - was cut at 0800 on 30 January, the firm said.

INSIDE A SUBMARINE CABLE

1 Polyethylene cover
2,4 Stranded steel armour wires
3,5 Tar-soaked nylon yarn
6 Polycarbonate insulator
7 Copper sheath
8 Protective core
9 Optical fibres
Not to scale

A second cable thought to lie alongside it - SEA-ME-WE 4, or the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 cable - was also split.

FLAG is a 28,000km (17,400 mile) long submarine communications cable that links Australia and Japan with Europe via India and the Middle East.

SEA-ME-WE 4 is a submarine cable linking South East Asia to Europe via the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

The two cable cuts meant that the only cable in service connecting Europe to the Middle East via Egypt was the older Sea-M-We 3 system, according to research firm TeleGeography.

The firm said the cuts reduced the amount of available capacity on the stretch of network between India and Europe by 75% percent.

As a result, carriers in Egypt and the Middle East re-routed their European traffic around the globe, through South East Asia and across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The cause of the break has still not been confirmed. The third break is unlikely to disrupt commerce in the region as many business are closed on Fridays.

Initial reports suggested that it could have been snapped by a ship's anchor.

Internet service providers said they expected India's to be back to about 80% of its usual speed by the end of Friday.

In Egypt Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamil said he expected to be at the same capacity within two days.

"However, it's not before ten days until the internet service returns to its normal performance," Kamil told the state Al-Ahram newspaper.

Fwiw, the water off of Alexandria, Egypt, is always choppy. Anchoring out there sucks.

Allegra wrote:

I never started worrying.

Should I? ;-)

************
“Worrying” was a great word at o-dark-thirty, with early rising crumb snatchers looming a few short hours away, but here in the cold gray reality of the pre-java short night carnage, perhaps “processing” would have been a better choice.

Still and all, if Israel or the US moves against Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and I was in the sandbox, I’d want my MOPP gear close by, and depending on general location, substantial cover between me and the random Shia. Ten battlepacks in arm’s reach, a couple crates worth of grenades, and a close friend one short TX away at the local firebase would improve my general mood considerably.

Of course, depending on what lane you generally drive in around those parts, and how flexible your command environment is, you could tell me volumes, or be completely in the dark, it goes either way in forward areas depending on local circumstances. That you’re here leans more towards “volumes” than “dark”, but like I said, the caffiene may be entering my bloodstream already, but it hasn’t lit the furnace yet, not for at least another 30 minutes.

Last I heard, we’re maybe three big puzzle pieces shy of cocked and locked for new adventures, those puzzle pieces being attention grabbers that traditionally wait till the last minute to emplace. So much for capability, and as for intent, Dub was very vocal last trip over, and otherwise, playing it close to the vest as usual.

From here, my indicators then, are limited to published status on those last few puzzle pieces. Two weeks for the newsies to sober up and actually publish the odds and ends, plus 30 days after the holidays, adds up to Feb 14.

My gut says the apple isn’t ripe yet, the diplo string has a few more dances left on the card, but my tired old chair interface says “hope for the best, plan for the worst”.

So I watch.

And...process.

It won’t be a party over here either.

So much for me. Are’t you overdue for rotation out? Like...two years?

Last I heard, we’re maybe three big puzzle pieces shy of cocked and locked for new adventures, those puzzle pieces being attention grabbers that traditionally wait till the last minute to emplace.

Working directly with the military and going off the FOB a few times a week, I'm in a pretty good position...

...to hear a lot of rumors.

And there are a lot of them. None of which have been substantiated, but make for lively conversations in the DFAC on the rare occasions we're actually being serious.

My gut says the apple isn’t ripe yet, the diplo string has a few more dances left on the card, but my tired old chair interface says “hope for the best, plan for the worst”.

Very similar to my approach. I can ill-afford to dwell on it much, but it lurks quietly in the backs of everyone's minds.

So much for me. Are’t you overdue for rotation out? Like...two years?

I've been here four years. {shaking head} Four freakin' years.

I'll be home in a couple of months and I'll play "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" from there. ;-)

The Screaming Eagles, under Petraeus, got first rate chow when the rumors weren’t rumors anymore. Unsubstantiated office gossip is one thing, but steak and lobster on an OD tray is concrete reality.

I thought maybe you had snuck in a year stateside while I wasn’t looking, four years, dayum. Cutting to the chase, maybe you can look into opening a real Iraqi resteraunt over here, and hobble your jones without subsidizing the Wetwipes Corporation. Or CJCS, or a consult for real money, four tours ought to let you write your own ticket.

Tension exists in the true sense of the word. The NIE changed a lot over here, but IDF never bought in, and the new toys at Bushehr are within weeks or months of being lit. It will be a two party fight for about 11 seconds if Israel moves first, then expand rapidly. I do NOT see Bush wasting treasure on a new set of sanctions if he was planning a surprise, and the sanctions are progressing down the pipe already. He holds Olmert to a pretty short leash, but no guarantees. If all that is true, then the limiting factor seems to be how soon cool fall weather makes MOPP 4 gear viable at Omani latitudes come fall.

Not much, but it’s the best I’ve got. You hang tough.

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