The Hindu Business Line : Internet services limp back to normalcy

Internet services limped back to normalcy in the country with bandwidth providers re-routing traffic through alternate cables running through the Atlantic instead of the cables near Taiwan, which was damaged due to an earthquake.

"We are making alternative arrangements by routing traffic through cables such as Se-Me-We 3 and FLAG, which takes the Atlantic route. ," said Mr Rajesh Charria, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI).

Cables used by companies, including VSNL, Bharti-Singtel and Sify, for carrying traffic to the US and South-East Asia have been damaged.

According to ISPAI, nearly 60-70 per cent of the Internet traffic from India was impacted on Thursday. The incident has prompted analysts in the region to question the reliability of under sea cables. They pointed out that the cables are unprotected and can be damaged due to multiple reasons, including sharks bites, ship anchors or even fish trawlers. Recently, a major cable cut had shut off Pakistan's communications systems completely.

The damaged cables will not have any impact on the Indian international long distance telephony services because ILD operators themselves re-route the traffic through non-affected cables, while in the case of Internet services it depends on whether the ISPs have paid for restoration services.

Restoration begins

Telecom companies, which own the damaged cables, have begun the restoration process and it may take a full week before it goes back to normal capacity.

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