Internet coverage in the Emirates could be disrupted for up to six weeks after cables in the Red Sea were severed, experts have told The National.
Services slowed to a crawl in parts of the Middle East, India and Pakistan this weekend after cables in the Red Sea were severed. On Monday, the internet monitor DownDetector.ae showed some user reports of problems and slow service on Du and Etisalat.
Dr Sarath Raj, project director of the satellite ground station at Amity University in Dubai, said that it could take up to six weeks to repair the cables and that connection for users in the meanwhile could run at slower speeds.
“Repairing these cables is not a quick process. Specialised ships must locate the exact fault, lift the damaged cable from the seabed, splice it and then test it before restoring service,” he told The National. “In most cases, this process takes two to six weeks, depending on location, weather and ship availability.”
Has it happened before?
Dr Raj pointed to the Alexandria cable cut in 2008, after which it took nearly a month for services to be fully restored, affecting millions of people in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
“Until then, internet traffic is rerouted through other cables, which keeps services running but usually causes slower speeds and higher latency,” said Dr Raj. Internet satellites like Elon Musk’s Starlink, which could offer an alternative in situations such as this, are not activated over the UAE yet.
But Dr Raj believes submarine cables would still remain the “backbone of global internet” because of their high capacity.
“At the same time, satellite internet, particularly the newer low-earth orbit constellations, can provide redundancy and improve resilience,” he said. “A hybrid system of cables and satellites is the most reliable way forward to avoid major disruptions.”
It is not known what caused the incident. There have been fears that cables in the Red Sea could be attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, though they have denied attacking lines in the past. Cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships, and about 70 per cent of the past instances of this happening were accidental.
Disruption
Users across the Emirates have reported disruption over recent days. Gabriela Solis, a freelance journalist in Dubai who works for a Mexican daily newspaper, said speeds have been noticeably slower.
“At home, I first noticed it on my phone when X wouldn’t load and it kept showing an error,” she said. “Then on my laptop, opening new tabs would take longer. And just last night, as my husband and I were watching a TV show on a streaming platform, the image lagged.”
Sharanya Paulraj, a PR manager in Dubai, said: “None of the websites I’m using for research are loading and I have to keep refreshing my browser. I’ve mostly been relying on previous research and checking alternate websites, which is not ideal when on a time crunch. I hope that it doesn’t continue because a lot of my work is very planning-heavy and Google-focused.”
The Red Sea is a critical telecoms route, connecting Europe to Africa and Asia through Egypt. Repairing subsea cables in the area can be difficult, particularly given the continuing Houthi attacks on vessels in the area.
In March last year, at least three subsea cables were cut, which affected internet traffic in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. The US government found that the anchor from the Rubymar, a ship the Houthis had critically damaged, had dragged along the seabed and cut the cables in question.
Between November 2023 and December last year, the Houthis attacked more than 100 ships with missiles and drones, and there have been several further attacks this year. The Houthis have sunk four vessels and killed at least eight mariners.
Services remain vulnerable
Raed AlHazme, an IT expert who has served as chief information officer of the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia, said the widespread internet disruption highlighted the dangers of over-reliance on such communication networks.
“These incidents are not new – similar outages have happened in recent years due to cable faults or cuts. Each time, they remind us how fragile global digital infrastructure can be when over-reliant on external routes,” he said.
“There is a common belief that most of the world’s data travels through satellites, but the truth is different. Satellites carry less than 1 per cent of global internet traffic. Subsea cables, on the other hand, are responsible for more than 97 per cent to 99 per cent of worldwide data.
“Although traffic was quickly rerouted through alternative cables, the incident teaches us critical lessons. Relying solely on international infrastructure is a major risk, and digital sovereignty is not a luxury – it is a strategic necessity to ensure continuity and security of critical systems.”
