Undersea cables cut in the Red Sea disrupted Internet access across Asia and West Asia on Sunday, including India. The outages slowed connectivity in several countries, though experts said the exact cause of the incident remains unclear.
NetBlocks, which monitors Internet traffic, confirmed that “a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea” had degraded connectivity in India, Pakistan, and beyond. Microsoft also warned that users in West Asia could face higher latency due to the fiber cuts.
The SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 cable managed by Tata Communications were among those affected. Another consortium run by Alcatel-Lucent oversees parts of the disrupted system.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia and telecom operators did not immediately confirm the outages. In the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, users of Du and Etisalat networks reported slower speeds.
There is growing concern that cables may have been deliberately targeted. Some observers linked the timing to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have denied previous attacks on such infrastructure. Undersea cables cut in the Red Sea disrupted Internet across India, Pakistan, and West Asia, leaving millions of users affected.
