'BSNL Internet capacity down 21 percent due to multiple fibre cuts'

Telecom PSU BSNL on Sunday said its Internet capacity has dropped by 21 percent due to multiple fibre cuts in three under-sea cable systems that connect the country with many parts of the world.

"Three major cables which are serving as the International Gateway Connectivity are affected because of the multiple fibre cuts," BSNL said in a statement.

"The Sea-Me-We-4, IMEWE and EIG cable systems are the ones affected. Because of this disruption, BSNL has lost around 21 per cent of its total international Bandwidth," it added.

The under-sea cable systems facilitate Internet and various telecom services and any disruption in these cables impact Internet speed and voice quality of telecom services.

It, however, could not be ascertained whether BSNL's customers are experiencing any trouble due to drop in bandwidth.

Tata Communications manages IMEWE and Sea-Me-We-4 cable systems. IMEWE connects India and Europe via Middle East, and Sea-Me-We-4 (SMW4) cable system connects South East Asia to Europe via the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East.

"Tata Communications can confirm that the SMW4 cable system suffered a cable cut, and that there was interruption of services to some customers on March 27, 2013," TCL said in a statement.

It further said that internet traffic of majority of the company's customers was re-routed automatically via its south Asian and Pacific routes.

"Full restoration of the cable is underway .. In the meanwhile, Tata Communications continues to monitor its network closely to prevent further disruption to our customers," TCL said, adding that the restoration would be soon.

No immediate comments could be obtained from TCL on the status of IMEWE cable system.

The other cable system Europe India Gateway (EIG) connects the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, UAE, India, Marseille and France.