Undersea cables to be fixed by Feb 10: FLAG

MUMBAI, INDIA: Repair work on two broken undersea cables providing data services to parts of the Middle East and Asia should be completed by Feb. 10, cable operator FLAG Telecom said on Thursday.

The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, said repair work on a section of the FLAG Europe-Asia cable between Egypt and Italy and the FALCON cable system off the coast of the United Arab Emirates was progressing steadily and was likely to be finished by Sunday.

Undersea cable connections were disrupted off Egypt's northern coast last week when segments of two international cables were cut, affecting Internet access in the Gulf region and South Asia, and forcing service providers to re-route traffic.

A third undersea cable, FALCON, was reported broken between Dubai and Oman. FLAG said on Tuesday that a ship had reached the location and repair work had started.