The Hindu Business Line : ISPs for inter-linking cables

New Delhi, Feb. 2 Following disruption in Net services due to the undersea cable cuts last week, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are planning to seek the intervention of the Department of Telecom for setting up a mechanism to make India’s communication network more resilient against a possible sabotage in future.

One mechanism being suggested is to interconnect all undersea cables owned by Indian companies which would enable them to share each other’s network in case of a crisis. There is also a move to strengthen the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), which would keep the domestic traffic secure and strong.

While Reliance-owned FLAG cable system and a consortium run SE-Me-We4 was cut by ship movement in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday, another cable called Falcon was cut near Dubai on Friday.

The damage in the three cables put Internet traffic in the region out of gear though the impact on India was limited due to the presence of other undersea cables.

The damage to FALCON also did not have much impact on Internet services in the country since it does not carry much traffic.

ISPs concerned

Though Reliance, which owns both FLAG and FALCON, has ruled out any form of sabotage, some of the ISPs have expressed concern that similar disruptions could be initiated by terrorist groups to hit India’s booming IT services industry.

“The disruption in Internet services following the cable cuts should act as an indicator to what could go wrong and, therefore, we should do everything possible to make the network foolproof in order to be prepared for such eventualities in future,” said an ISP industry official.

Sources indicated that the association will write to DoT to take necessary steps to avoid a breakdown of Net services.

An ISP pointed out that intervention may also be required in regulating the bandwidth market further. “Indian companies own cables that are designed to carry as much as 18 Tbps international bandwidth. However, only about 20 Gbps is being offered in the market. Steps must be taken to improve the availability,” said a service provider.

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