Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access in parts of Asia and the Middle East, including India, Pakistan, UAE, according to reports cited by the Associated Press (AP).
However, it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the incident.
Monitoring group NetBlocks claimed that “a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries,” specifically naming India and Pakistan among those affected. It blamed “failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
Microsoft also confirmed that its Azure cloud service experienced disruptions, warning users of “increased latency” on routes passing through the Middle East.
According to a status update from Microsoft, its Azure users may experience increased latency, particularly for traffic originating in or terminating in the Asia and Europe regions. “Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair; as such, we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime. We’ll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change,” Microsoft said.
There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past.
Undersea cables are one of the backbones of the internet, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Typically, internet service providers have multiple access points and reroute traffic if one fails, though it can slow down access for users.
Pakistan Telecommunications Co. Ltd., a telecommunication giant in the country, noted that the cuts had taken place in a statement on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the disruption, and authorities there did not respond to a request for comment.
In the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users on the country’s state-owned Du and Etisalat networks complained of slower internet speeds.
Subsea cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships, but can also be targeted in attacks. It can take weeks for repairs to be made as a ship and crew must locate themselves over the damaged cable.
The lines’ cut comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels remain locked in a series of attacks targeting Israel over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has responded with airstrikes, including one that killed top leaders within the rebel movement.
The Red Sea has become a flashpoint in recent months. From late 2023 through 2024, Houthi forces targeted more than 100 ships, sinking four and killing at least eight mariners, according to AP.
