Red Sea Cable cut: 3 reasons Red Sea cables that caused internet disruption in India, Pakistan and Middle East may take months to fix

Red Sea cable cut continues to impact internet services in India, Pakistan and the middle east countries. According to an AP report that cites experts, the outage was caused by a commercial ship that allegedly dragged its anchor and severed several undersea internet cables in the Red Sea.

Now, experts say that it may take several weeks to repair the damaged cables, reports Khaleej Times. The report gives multiple reasons to the long repairing time.

Limited companies can handle repairs

The publication cites Yasser Saied, Consulting Systems Engineer at cybersecurity company Palo Alto who said only three or four companies in the world are equipped to repair such deep-sea cables. This scarcity of resources means delays are inevitable when multiple disruptions occur.“Worldwide, there are only three or four companies that can fix such a cable” he said.

Repairs require complex undersea operations

The damaged cables lie deep under the ocean floor, making repairs highly technical. “To fix such a cable, you need very high technology as they are buried deep under the ocean. You need special fibre divers who can go to the depths of the ocean, locate the exact cut and fix it,” Saied told Khaleej Times.“So it is not easy an easy operation and could take months,” he added.

External causes slow restoration

Swapnendu M., Solutions Architect at Cisco, told Khaleej Times that damage is often linked to ships anchoring, natural disasters, or, in rare cases, malicious activity. Identifying the exact cause and site of damage is critical but time-consuming, further delaying restoration.Experts also pointed out that fibre cables are vulnerable to natural degradation over time. Such wear makes maintenance harder and contributes to the frequency of incidents every five to ten years.

Red Sea cable cut: Impacted regions and cause

The incident reportedly affected at least four major cables: The South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4, the India-Middle East-Western Europe, the FALCON GCX, and the Europe India Gateway. The cuts were initially believed to have occurred off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.John Wrottesley of the International Cable Protection Committee told the AP that commercial shipping activity is the "probable cause of damage." He noted that around 30% of annual cable incidents are caused by dragged anchors, which account for roughly 60 faults per year.