Red Sea Cable Damage Hits Global Internet, Microsoft Services
Multiple subsea fiber cuts disrupt connectivity in Asia and the Middle East, forcing rerouting of traffic for major cloud providers.
Major internet disruptions are rippling across Asia and the Middle East after multiple subsea fiber optic cables were damaged in the Red Sea, a critical chokepoint for global data traffic. The outages have impacted connectivity in several countries, including India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates, prompting major technology firms like Microsoft to reroute network traffic to maintain service stability.
The incident, which involves several vital cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, underscores the vulnerability of the global network infrastructure concentrated in the region. The Red Sea is a crucial corridor carrying an estimated 17% of the world's internet data, making any disruption a significant event for international commerce and communications. that its Azure cloud customers could face higher latency as its systems work to bypass the damaged routes.
The precise cause of the cable damage remains unconfirmed. While the disruption occurs amidst heightened geopolitical tensions in the shipping lanes, experts note that such incidents are often caused by accidental anchor drags from maritime vessels. as having a noticeable impact on networks across the affected regions.
The situation puts a spotlight on the complex and challenging process of undersea cable repair. Locating and fixing the faults requires specialized ships and can often take weeks, if not months, to complete, suggesting that intermittent service disruptions could persist. For now, global technology providers are actively managing their networks to mitigate the impact, but the event serves as a stark reminder of the physical fragility of the digital world's backbone.