India's Internet services limping to normalcy
Internet connectivity in India was to be restored to roughly 80 percent off its normal capacity on Friday as service providers shifted to alternate routes after two cables snapped beneath the Mediterranean Sea, disrupting Web access across a wide ...
By Agencies |
NEW DELHI: Internet connectivity in India was to be restored to roughly 80 percent off its normal capacity on Friday as service providers shifted to alternate routes after two cables snapped beneath the Mediterranean Sea, disrupting Web access across a wide swath of Asia and the Middle East, experts said.
The disruptions cost India half its bandwidth, leaving the country's lucrative outsourcing industry struggling with Internet slowdowns and outages.
The situation improved Friday as international bandwidth providers shifted their Internet traffic to the Pacific route, significantly upgrading India's Web access, said Rajesh Chharia, president of India's Internet Service Provider's Association. He said the country's Internet connectivity would be at roughly 80 percent by the end of Friday.
Many companies said their Internet access had already gotten better.
``We've been getting and sending e-mails normally. Compared to yesterday connectivity is certainly improved,'' said Praveen Mathur of Streit India Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., an investment consulting firm based in New Delhi that has clients in the United States and Canada.
The Mediterranean Sea cables, which lie north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria, snapped Wednesday as the work day was ending in India.
Workers will not know for sure what caused the cuts until they are able to get repair ships and divers to the area, though there was speculation a ship's anchor was to blame.
The impact was not immediately apparent in India, but it was in Middle Eastern countries.
India's communications and information technology ministry issued a statement late Thursday saying underwater fiber optic cables usually take 15 days to repair, but they expected they'd be fixed in 10 days.
The Internet disruption raised questions about the system's vulnerability. A Gulf analyst called it a ``wake-up call,'' while one in London cautioned that no one, including the West, was immune to such disruptions.
They could have a ``massive impact on businesses,'' said Alex Burmaster from Nielsen Online in London, adding that ordinary people ``probably couldn't imagine'' life without the Internet.
Such large-scale disruptions are rare but not unknown. East Asia suffered nearly two months of outages and slow service after an earthquake damaged undersea cables near Taiwan in 2006.
The disruptions cost India half its bandwidth, leaving the country's lucrative outsourcing industry struggling with Internet slowdowns and outages.
The situation improved Friday as international bandwidth providers shifted their Internet traffic to the Pacific route, significantly upgrading India's Web access, said Rajesh Chharia, president of India's Internet Service Provider's Association. He said the country's Internet connectivity would be at roughly 80 percent by the end of Friday.
Many companies said their Internet access had already gotten better.
``We've been getting and sending e-mails normally. Compared to yesterday connectivity is certainly improved,'' said Praveen Mathur of Streit India Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., an investment consulting firm based in New Delhi that has clients in the United States and Canada.
The Mediterranean Sea cables, which lie north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria, snapped Wednesday as the work day was ending in India.
ADVERTISEMENT
Workers will not know for sure what caused the cuts until they are able to get repair ships and divers to the area, though there was speculation a ship's anchor was to blame.
The impact was not immediately apparent in India, but it was in Middle Eastern countries.
India's communications and information technology ministry issued a statement late Thursday saying underwater fiber optic cables usually take 15 days to repair, but they expected they'd be fixed in 10 days.
The Internet disruption raised questions about the system's vulnerability. A Gulf analyst called it a ``wake-up call,'' while one in London cautioned that no one, including the West, was immune to such disruptions.
ADVERTISEMENT
They could have a ``massive impact on businesses,'' said Alex Burmaster from Nielsen Online in London, adding that ordinary people ``probably couldn't imagine'' life without the Internet.
Such large-scale disruptions are rare but not unknown. East Asia suffered nearly two months of outages and slow service after an earthquake damaged undersea cables near Taiwan in 2006.
ADVERTISEMENT
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
