Egyptian internet companies expect slow web connections through mid-January due to maintenance work on an undersea international cable. The cable suffered a malfunction in December and has only been partially fixed, sources said. Link.net CEO Karim Beshara said the company will be forced to use an alternative to the SMWE4 cable which passes through the Mediterranean Sea and constitutes the main internet cable feeding Egypt. Beshara told Al-Masry Al-Youm that network servers in the United States will be accessed through Asia instead of the current route through Europe. He went on to say that these changes may lead to slower internet connections. He added that since internet companies have prior notice of the scheduled maintenance procedures, a number of preemptive actions will be taken to avoid problems with local internet services. Internet companies will bear the cost of the route change, which could lead to additional financial losses, said Beshara. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel previously instructed Telecom Egypt to search for alternate internet routes to avoid disruptions in internet service. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
