A series of undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea has slowed internet connectivity across several countries in Asia and the Middle East, highlighting the fragility of global communications infrastructure. The disruptions, reported over the weekend, affected two key submarine systems — the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SMW4) and the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) — near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. These cables form part of a vital digital corridor carrying vast volumes of online traffic between continents.
According to internet observatory NetBlocks, the outages caused degraded service in Pakistan, India, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, with users experiencing slower speeds and higher latency. The group noted the incident underscores “the dependence of multiple nations on a handful of subsea routes.”Technology giant Microsoft also flagged the issue, warning customers in the Middle East of possible delays in cloud and online services, though traffic routed outside the region appeared unaffected.
National carriers have begun acknowledging the problem. Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd. (PTCL) confirmed the cuts in a Saturday statement, while Kuwaiti officials reported damage to the FALCON GCX cable, which further strained connectivity. In the UAE, subscribers of state-owned Du and Etisalat also reported sluggish performance, though the government has not commented publicly.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia have yet to confirm the disruption, and the operators of the affected cables — Tata Communications and Alcatel Submarine Networks — have not provided repair timelines.The incident is the latest reminder of how easily the flow of global data can be interrupted. With the Red Sea serving as one of the world’s most critical subsea cable corridors, any prolonged disruption poses risks not only to regional users but also to international businesses and financial networks relying on seamless digital links
