- Monitoring groups and operators confirm outages near Jeddah, with traffic shifted onto longer paths.
- Cloud providers warn of latency spikes; repairs at sea could take weeks depending on weather windows.
What happened: Multiple fibres severed, traffic rerouted via longer paths
Key details were first reported by Reuters, which noted issues near Jeddah and warnings from cloud providers about added latency. Follow-on coverage from DataCenterDynamics identified specific systems—including SEA-ME-WE 4, IMEWE and FALCON—among those affected.
Local media in the Gulf and South Asia also carried statements from operators confirming mitigation steps and longer-than-usual routes while repairs are arranged. The cause of the damage remains unclear; subsea fixes typically require specialised ships to locate, lift and splice fibres, a process governed by permits and weather.
Also read: MainOne Ghana: Expanding digital reach through cables and data
Also read: Google expands subsea network with new US–EU cable
Why it’s important
Multiple cable breaks in this zone tighten bandwidth supply and force traffic onto detour routes. Even a few extra milliseconds can affect cloud computing, online trading and collaboration tools. For carriers, the disruption also drives up transit costs and heightens the chance of bottlenecks.
Security and resilience questions follow. Recent conflicts and shipping incidents have exposed how fragile a few chokepoints can be. Operators and policymakers will debate whether to accelerate route diversity—via the Mediterranean, terrestrial back-haul, or new landing points—and how to fund better protection and faster repair access. If repair windows slip, businesses in affected countries could see weeks of degraded performance.
