Internet services in the Kingdom will be fully restored by Friday, Saad A. Demyati, Wholesale Sector vice-president at Saudi Telecom Company (STC) told a crowded press conference here Monday. Breaks in submarine cables which link Europe and the Middle East last Thursday have impeded Internet and international telephone services in parts of the Middle East and South Asia. Demyati said six undersea cables were affected, three of which were providing services to Saudi Arabia. Seismic or marine activity in the area could have caused the disruption, he said. “Repair work is underway and we will be able to finish it hopefully by Friday,” the STC official said, using a power-point presentation to explain the extent of the repair work. “All the Internet services including data will be back to normal,” he said. The severed cables are SEA ME WE 4 (SMW 4), SEA ME WE 3 (SMW 3) and FLAG EA that run undersea between Egypt and Italy carrying 90 percent of all data between Europe and the Middle East. The break slowed down service in Saudi Arabia though without adversely affecting a large percentage of Internet users. “Thank God we have different routes and the STC was able to quickly divert the services by using those alternative routes,” he said, noting that service in Saudi Arabia was never completely cut off at any point. To avoid future disruptions, STC in laying four new cables – three of them to be operational by 2009-end and another in early 2010. With the new cables, STC's total investment will reach around SR800 million ($200 million). STC has been investing in cable-laying technology since the introduction of undersea cabling systems, Demyati said, and also in laying eight different East-West cables having “different routes, capacities and with different partners,” he said. The company's investment in cabling systems has so far reached SR750 million.
