Three Undersea Cables Cut in Mediterranean
Three major submarine fiber optic cables were cut in short succession: "Sea Me We 4" at 7:28am, "Sea Me We3" at 7:33am and FLAG at 8:06am CET. France Telecom said the causes of the cut, which is located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia, on sections linking Sicily to Egypt, remain unclear.

France Teleco said most of business-to-business traffic between Europe and Asia has been rerouted through the USA.

Traffic from Europe to Algeria and Tunisia is not affected, but traffic from Europe to the Near East and Asia is interrupted to a greater or lesser extent . France Telecom estimated the following impact on the voice traffic (in percentage of out of service capacity):

Saudi Arabia: 55% out of service
Djibouti: 71% out of service
Egypt: 52% out of service
United Arab Emirates: 68% out of service
India: 82% out of service
Lebanon: 16% out of service
Malaysia: 42% out of service
Maldives: 100% out of service
Pakistan: 51% out of service
Qatar: 73% out of service
Syria: 36% out of service
Taiwan: 39% out of service
Yemen: 38% out of service
Zambia: 62% out of service

France Telecom has issued mobilization orders to two cable repair ships. Priority will be given to the recovery of the Sea Me We4 cable, then on the Sea Me We3. By December 25th, Sea Me We4 could be operating. By December 31st, the situation should be back to normal.