The disruption of Reliance Communications’ (RCom) undersea telecommunication cable — Flag Europe Asia (FEA) cable — has hit telephone, data and internet services in Kuwait, throwing traffic between that country and other parts of the world out of gear.
This is the sixth cable disruption in a year. In February this year, FEA and SEA-ME-WE-4 (a consortium cable) were cut at many locations across West Asia, which were later attributed to a shop-weighing anchor above it. The latest cable cut has also impacted Kuwaiti communication companies like Zajil Telecom, Fast Net and Quality Net, and the communication systems of Kuwait’s Ministry of Communications, according to blogs and other reports from Kuwait.
Internet and telephone traffic between Kuwait, on the one hand, and Spain, the UK, the US, Switzerland, Italy and India, on the other, was also affected, according to a blog posted from Kuwait, which quoted Kuwait’s Minister for Communications Abdulrahman Al-Ghunaim.
“The ministry is making concerted efforts with RCom and FALCON (another RCom submarine cable company) to resume communication services as soon as possible. There are some alternatives for communication lines with these countries through alternative networks. The ministry is arranging such alternatives with communication providers concerned,” the minister was quoted as saying.