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In the Red Sea, authorities reported major damage to underwater communications cables, affecting internet connectivity between Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This failure, which disrupted about 25% of traffic in these areas, raised suspicions about the possibility of acts of sabotage linked to the Houthi rebel groups in Yemen.
Global telecommunications companies such as HGC Global Communications and Seacom have reported outages in four major cables, putting data transmission at risk, including the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 cable, the Europe-India Gateway, and the TGN-Gulf cables.
According to Seacom, the cuts have affected the portion within Yemen's territorial waters in the southern Red Sea, and measures are being taken to redirect traffic. Tata Communications, which is responsible for the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line, has also begun taking corrective measures following the incident.
These submarine cables are essential to the global digital infrastructure, supporting a significant portion of Internet traffic and business information. However, the repair process faces challenges, including difficulties in obtaining permits for operations at the damaged site.
Suspicions of sabotage grew as Houthi-linked groups published maps detailing the location of the cables, along with messages hinting at control of these vital data paths. The Red Sea region is a strategic region not only for maritime trade but also for the global flow of data.
With information from Terra.
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