Damage to undersea cables in the Red Sea is disrupting global telecommunications networks and forcing Internet providers to reroute as much as a quarter of traffic between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Cables belonging to major telecommunications networks weredamaged causing “significant” disruption to communications networks in the Middle East, according to Hong Kong-based telecom company HGC Global Communications.
HGC estimates that 25 percent of traffic between Asia and Europe, as well as the Middle East, has been affected, it said in a statement on Monday.
The company said it was rerouting traffic to minimize disruption to customers and also “extend assistance to affected businesses.”
HGC did not say how the cables were damaged or who was responsible.
The destruction comes weeks after Yemen’s official government warned of a possible attack on the cables by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have already disrupted global supply chains by attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea as a sign of support for the Palestinians in Gaza who were in war with Israel since October 7th last year.
Reports by the Israeli news outlet Globes last week suggested that the Houthis were behind the cable damage. Yemeni rebel leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi has denied the allegations. “We have no intention of targeting undersea cables that provide internet to countries in the region,” he said.
Among the affected networks is the Europe India Gateway, which spans 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles) between Europe, the Middle East and India. Asia-Africa-Europe, the 25,000-kilometer cable system connecting Southeast Asia to Europe via Egypt, was also damaged, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
