ALKHOBAR: The Kingdom’s Internet woes were due to end on Thursday and by then connectivity appeared to be back to normal — for about four hours.
“We witnessed more than four hours of complete recovery for this link, from 9 p.m. Thursday until 1:30 a.m. Friday. Then another problem happened in the link,” said the Technical GM for Nesma Internet, Mohammad W. Bazaraa.
It was not clear for two days what the exact problem was, but now industry sources say that there appears to be a second cut in the so-called SeaMeWe4 cable that runs in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Egypt. SeaWeMe4 is the newest and most vital line affecting the Gulf region.
The sources say that SeaWeMe4 may have been damaged about 600 km off the coast of Alexandria, or about 1,200 km away from the location of the first cuts on Dec. 19.
Last week there were reports that three lines running near each other (SeaWeMe3, SeaWeMe4 and FLAG) were severed within a short span of time, possibly by a fishing trawler or a ship’s anchor. The cuts occurred between Sicily and Tunisia, before the three lines turn eastward toward Egypt and beyond.
It is anticipated that the FLAG line may be operational by today, which would improve the situation for Internet users in the Kingdom and the Middle East.
