CAIRO: Internet subscribers in Egypt will be compensated for the service disruptions caused by the damage of the two undersea cables last week, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) said on Saturday. ADSL subscribers will not have to pay for January's fees and dial-up users will not be charged for last month's calls, the ministry said. "Although the unfortunate damage of the cables is not anyone's fault, the minister [of communications] found it fair that users be compensated for the inconvenience, Chairman of Telecom Egypt Akil Bashir told "El-Beit Beitak program Saturday night. The monetary losses incurred by ISPs, call centers and internet-dependent businesses has not yet been calculated. MCIT Minister Tarek Kamel announced on Saturday that after the internet is completely restored, Egypt will seek compensation from the undersea cable operators for the damages caused to businesses as well as the expenses paid by the ministry to contain the crisis. "We spent a lot of money in the crisis management process, Bashir said. Egypt rerouted most of its internet traffic to other cables, which were rented or bought from other operators. Bashir comforted worried citizens that heard news of a third damaged undersea cable on Friday, saying that it affected the Gulf area but did not further cripple Egypt's internet capacity. The FALCON cable was located 56 km from Dubai, between the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Although the internet service has not been fully restored, Bashir reiterated the MCIT's announcement, that Egypt will have 75 to 80 percent of its internet capacity by Sunday morning. The MCIT's press office told Daily News Egypt that the problem will not be solved entirely before one week to 10 days. The maintenance ship will start on Tuesday fixing the rifts in the two intercontinental cables, SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG Telecom. It is hard to tell how long it will take to restore full service because the damage to the cables will not be known until they are extracted from the water and inspected. However, the weather conditions are a possible culprit. "We don't think that foul play is a factor here, Bashir said. MCIT said in a statement Sunday that Kamel received a report from Minister of Transport Mohamed Mansour detailing maritime movement in the area where the cables are located. The report said that no ships passed through the area, which is marked as restricted on maritime maps. This would eliminate the possibility of a ship causing the damage. The findings of the report will be sent to SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG Telecom. According to Khaled Shash, managing director of Raya Contact Center, the crisis management applied when the incident took place proved to the company's international clients that Egypt is able to operate under stress and emergency measures. Most contact centers in Egypt had lost around 30 percent of their internet capacity, but were able to gain backup internet access from other ISPs that were less affected. Emad El Azhari managing director of TEData said that his company was luckier than others because they were able to obtain quick backup options from other cables. Bashir boasted that all internet providers were cooperative and shared connections to help businesses and users overcome the inconvenient circumstances. Over the weekend, the MCIT urged users to stop downloading songs and movies so the available internet capacity can be used by businesses that need to conduct their transactions.
