Cable Cut Issue to Persist for weeks
Tee Emm
As always, DW has an excellent coverage and details on the current SMW4 and FLAG cuts. As pointed out in the report, it is strange how the two cable cuts happened miles apart in quick succession. For now, Murphy's the only explanation. The issues are expected to last for weeks, not days.
From Daily Wireles:
Two oceanic cable systems in the far East were severed yesterday, greatly impacting both Internet and voice traffic to the region. The broken submarine cables are operated by Flag Telecom and SEA-ME-WEA 4. Repair time may be measured in weeks, not days.
The countries highlighted in red (above) are those whose Internet connectivity is being disrupted the most by this event. As you can see, there are several cable systems that connect Europe, the Middle East and Asia, via the Suez Canal.
According to Bloomberg,
six ships were diverted from Alexandria port because of bad weather,
and one may have severed the cables with an anchor, said a spokesman
for Flag Telecom Group.
The FLAG cut is reported to have taken place 8.3 kilometers (5.2 miles) from Alexandria beach in northern Egypt. Flag (for Fiber-optic Link Around the Globe), runs from Britain to Japan.
In Cairo, much of the capital city was without access to the Internet for the bulk of the day, frustrating businesses and the professions. "It's a national disaster," said Joseph Metry, network supervisor at Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, the biggest mobile- phone company in the Middle East and North Africa.
The SEA-ME-WEA 4 cable was damaged in the waters off Marseille, France, reports C/Net. The two cables, which are separately managed and operated, were damaged within hours of each other.
How is it that both Flag Telecom and SEA-ME-WEA 4 cables (above and below) were severed within hours of each other, although Marseille, France and Alexandria, Egypt, are hundreds of miles apart? At this point, details are sketchy and the cause is still unclear.
VSNL has a terrific interactive global cable map (above), while the SEA-ME-WEA 4 map (below) shows the distance to France. VSNL, the Indian telecom giant that bought FLAG, also bought Tyco's 6 Terabit transpacific cable for a relative song in 2004. Now they planning a new TGN-Intra Asia submarine cable linking Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan with an additional connection to the Philippines, and potentially Vietnam.
On 26th December, 2006, a powerful earthquake shook the seabed off southern Taiwan (pdf).
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake was followed by one of the largest disruptions of modern telecommunications history.
Nine submarine cables in the Strait of Luzon, between Taiwan and the Philippines, were broken thus disabling vital connections between SE Asia and the rest of the world. China Telecom reported that several international submarine communications cables had been broken, including:
- CUCN and SMW3, which was damaged at December 26, 2006 20:25 UTC+8 approximately 9.7 km away from landing point in Fangshan, Pingtung County, Taiwan;
- APCN 2 S3, which was damaged at December 27, 2006 02:00 UTC+8 approximately 2100 km away from landing point in Chongming, Shanghai, China;
- APCN 2 S7, which was damaged at December 27, 2006 00:06 UTC+8 approximately 904 km away from landing point in Tanshui, Taipei County, Taiwan;
- FLAG Europe Asia, the segment between Hong Kong and Shanghai was broken at December 27, 2006 04:56 UTC+8;
- FLAG North Asia Loop, the segment between Hong Kong and Pusan was broken at December 26, 2006 20:43 UTC+8, severely damaging the communications within the Asia-Pacific region and with the United States and Europe.
By the end of 2007, 25 oceanic fiber contracts totaling 112,000 route-kilometers were awarded.
Both of Portland's cable ships, the Tyco Durable and Global Sentinel, are expected to have plenty of work throughout the Pacific as the telecom industry rebounds. Here are Research Ship Schedules.
Related DailyWireless fiber articles include Fiber Crosses the Pond, Google: Now it's Transpacific Fiber, New China Transpacific Cable, Top Teleport Operators, Pacific Telecommunication Council: 007, City Fiber Networks, National Broadband Policy?, Utopia Spreads, Muni Fiber for Portland?, and Oregon MuniFiber: the Bad & the Good, and Taiwan Earthquake Knocks Out Cables.