Accidental damage to the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SeaMeWe-4) submarine cable near Egypt has disrupted internet access there, as well as impacting other nations utilising the cable. ProPakistani reports that due to the damage to the cable, some 40% of customers in Pakistan were experiencing slower transmission speeds. Traffic has been shifted to sister cable SeaMeWe-3 whilst repairs are carried out. The Associated Press quoted an executive from SeaMeWe-4 consortium member Telecom Egypt as saying that the cable was damaged by a boat on 22 March, and would be fully operational today.
In separate news, Egyptian naval forces yesterday (27 March) caught three scuba divers attempting to cut an unnamed submarine cable near Alexandria.