UAE internet users report slowdowns after Red Sea cable cuts

Dubai: A series of undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea have significantly slowed down internet access across the Middle East and parts of Asia, including India and Pakistan. The disruption was also felt in the United Arab Emirates, where users of internet providers Du and Etisalat reported slow speeds and intermittent access over the weekend. While service had largely improved by Sunday, some users continued to report issues.

The cause of the cable cuts has not been officially confirmed. Undersea fiber optic cables are the primary backbone of the global internet, and damage to them can be caused accidentally by ships dropping anchors. However, they can also be the target of deliberate attacks, which has raised concerns in the region.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks pointed to 'failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia' as the source of the disruption. The South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SMW4) and the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) cables are critical arteries for internet traffic connecting Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Microsoft announced via a status website that the Mideast “may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.” The Redmond, Washington-based firm did not immediately elaborate, though it said that internet traffic not moving through the Middle East “is not impacted.”

While internet service providers typically have multiple connections to reroute traffic in case of an outage, a significant cut can still cause widespread slowdowns. Repairs for undersea cables are a complex and time-consuming process, often taking weeks, as a specialized ship and crew must be dispatched to the exact location of the damaged line. There has been no official comment from the governments in Saudi Arabia or the UAE, nor from the telecom providers directly affected.