London
CNN
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Damage to undersea cables in the Red Sea is disrupting global telecommunications networks and forcing internet providers to reroute up to a quarter of traffic between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Cables belonging to the four major telecoms networks have been “cut”, causing “severe” disruptions to communications networks in the Middle East, according to Hong Kong telecoms company Hutchison Global Communications.
HGC said in a statement on Monday that it estimated that 25% of traffic between Asia and Europe and the Middle East was affected.
The company said it was rerouting traffic to minimize disruption to customers and “providing assistance to affected businesses.”
HGC did not say how the cable was damaged or who was responsible.
Underwater cables are the invisible force driving the development of the Internet. In recent years, many underwater cables have been funded by Internet giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook parent company Meta. Damage to these undersea networks could cause widespread Internet outages, like what happened after the 2006 earthquake in Taiwan.
The destruction of the Red Sea cables comes weeks after Yemen’s official government warned the Houthis could target them.Iran-backed militants They have disrupted global supply chains by attacking commercial ships in key waterways.
Reports by Israeli news outlet Globe last week suggested that the Houthis were behind the damage to the cables.Yemeni rebel leader Abdul Malik Houthis has denied the accusations. “We have no intention of targeting submarine cables that provide internet to countries in the region,” he said.
The Yemeni government has since accused Britain and the United States of Military units operating in the area have investigated the damage, the country’s state news agency reported on Saturday. CNN has reached out to the British and U.S. governments for comment, but the Yemeni government could not immediately be reached.
In a statement last week, the Yemeni government stressed the importance of protecting submarine cables and said it was “also keen to provide all necessary facilities to repair and maintain such submarine cables”.
Affected networks include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, a 25,000-kilometer (15,534-mile) cable system connecting Southeast Asia to Europe via Egypt. The European India Gateway (EIG) was also breached.
EIG connects Europe, the Middle East and India and Vodafone is a major investor. Vodafone, Britain’s largest mobile network operator, declined to comment.
The company says on its website that it can send Internet traffic through about 80 undersea cable systems, covering 100 countries.
Most large telecommunications companies rely on multiple undersea cable systems, allowing them to reroute traffic in the event of an outage to ensure uninterrupted service.
Also reporting were Wayne Chang in Taipei, Celine Alkhaldi in Abu Dhabi, Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong and Diksha Madhok in New Delhi.