The Wall Street Journal-20080131-Internet Disruptions Hit Mideast- India

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Internet Disruptions Hit Mideast, India

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Severed undersea cables along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Egypt disrupted Internet service across the Middle East and India. Businesses said they had experienced significant delays to Internet services, and providers alerted customers that the problems might not be resolved for several days.

The disruptions affected providers in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India, Qatar and Bahrain. Egypt's telecommunications ministry said at least one communications cable in the Mediterranean was cut, disrupting 70% of the country's Internet network, according to Reuters. It wasn't known how the cable was cut.

Internet-service providers across the region scrambled to circumvent the severed cables. Executives at the Dubai International Financial Centre, a sort of free-zone for international businesses, said they hadn't experienced problems. But home Internet service and service provided to most other businesses across Dubai were affected.