For the second time in a year, three international maritime cables were cut which supply Egypt and several countries with international calls and the Internet. Official sources at the Ministry of Telecommunications said that cables Flag, Smw3 and Smw4 were completely cut yesterday morning for unknown reasons. A statement issued by the ministry yesterday at 4 p.m. says that some tracks were being deviated toward Suez, while satellites were also being used. The ministry also explained that Egypt was affected by 80%, while some Arab countries were affected by 100%. Telecommunications Minister Tarek Kamel said that the alternative tracks would partially improve the Internet within 12 hours. He pointed out that international phone calls had not been affected, while international phone calls through call centers had. He explained the cables were in the sea south of Sicily (Italy) and that the companies owning the cables had called competent bodies to start the repairs. The telecommunications minister convened yesterday an emergency meeting with the ministry leading figures and officials from, amid others, Internet companies and Telecom Egypt. A room was formed to follow up on the crisis, which sources said would have deeper repercussions than last January, when two cables had the same problem. The regional director of Flag Telecom company in Egypt, Hassan Mohamed Hassan, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the company's cable had been cut yesterday morning and that the company had sent a ship to define the place of the accident. He said that the main breakdown was likely to have happened in the Mediterranean and that it was difficult to say how long the repairs would take. The causes of the cut of the two international cables last January have not been clarified so far and the same applies for a third cable which was cut last February near the UAE. The official of the Egyptian Ministry of Telecommunications said a ship was likely to have cut the three marine cables, while communications experts said there was a plot to cut those cables at the same time.
