VSNL restores internet services within following Egypt submarine cable break

Videsh Sanchar Nigam announced having restored a majority of its IP connectivity into the MENA region within 24 hours of the Egypt cable breakdown on Thursday 30 January, 2008, after the SEA-ME-WE 4 and other undersea cables were severed off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. (See: Damage to undersea cable disrupts internet traffic in India, Egypt)

These cables serve as the principal internet connections between the Middle East and westward on to Europe and North America. They also connect the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia.

The impact of the cut cables resulted in degraded internet service to and from the Middle East. VSNL has an internet backbone that circles the world allowing both eastward and westward connectivity from all regions, a major differentiator among carriers. This allows VSNL to leverage its ownership in a vast array of diverse undersea and terrestrial cables assets.

"VSNL is proud of the team effort that united the Company's network and operations teams across three continents to execute an ambitious recovery plan in 24 hours," said Radwan Mousalli, Managing Director - MENA, VSNL. "Our cable layout and design allowed us to survive a double cable failure as well as develop enough capacity eastward across the Pacific for the internet to reach North America and Europe."

Although many other carriers in the region lost service completely, VSNL was able to restore majority of their Middle East customers traffic utilising the SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4 eastbound and TIC cable following the cut. Unlike other carriers, VSNL's global undersea presence and strength of technical expertise allowed the Tata Group company to continue service through multiple cable systems.

Many enterprises chose to buy from cable operators who have capacity on a number of systems because protection is nearly guaranteed and if necessary, restoration is achieved quicker.

In the case of India too services were largely restored within 24 hours of the cable cut by diverting traffic through the TIC and SEA-ME-WE 3 cables.