By DemocracyRules
via Khaleej Times
"A total of five cables being operated by two submarine cable operators have been damaged..."
Somehow cables have been cut near Penang, Malaysia, Bandar Abbas, Iran, and Dubai on the Arabian Sea. A cable near Alexandria, Egypt was cut in two places. Cuts have been recorded on Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 1. They interfered with Internet data, voice calls, corporate data and video traffic.
Interruptions affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, six million in Egypt, and 4.7 million in Saudi Arabia. Iran has also been affected. Almost 90 per cent of the Internet service in those areas is sent through undersea cables.
Apparently the network has been re-routed through Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia and is mainly back to normal right now except for Iran.
As Gina noted earlier, Iran is a puzzle. The main router into and out of Iran is showing zero traffic, which clearly means something is up (or down). Of course Iran is denying any problems.
An event that may or may not be related is that Iran is planning to open a new petroleum trading center (Bourse) on Kish Island in the Gulf. It's main purpose is to undermine the strength of the US dollar by forcing oil trading to take place in non-US currencies.
Some people are connecting the two events, but there may be no connection. The 'PetroBourse' opening has been delayed for years, and even if it ever opens, it may fail. Given that the petroleum trade is global, there is no need for international traders to relocate to Kish Island. They are successful in New York and London.
All we know for sure right now is that the underwater cables serving Asia and the Middle East are being cut extraordinarily often, and Iran's main Internet router is down.
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