Internet Users in India Face Potential Service Disruptions After Submarine Cable Damage
September 6, 2025: Internet users across India may experience significant service disruptions, including slower speeds and connectivity issues, especially during peak evening hours, after two major international submarine cables were damaged in Saudi waters.
The sources confirmed on Saturday that faults have occurred in the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) and India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) undersea communication cables near Jeddah, a critical chokepoint for international data traffic.
The damage has impacted a portion of India’s total internet bandwidth, leading to potential congestion on the network as demand for data rises.
Impact on Users
While the internet is not expected to shut down completely, the reduction in available data capacity means users are likely to face:
Slower Browsing: Websites, particularly international ones, may take longer to load.
Video Buffering: Streaming services like YouTube, Netflix, and others could experience frequent buffering and lower video quality.
Lag in Online Gaming: Gamers may notice higher latency or “ping,” leading to a laggy and frustrating experience.
Poor Quality Calls: Video and voice calls on apps like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Skype may suffer from dropped connections and poor audio/video quality.
The impact will be most noticeable during peak hours (7 PM to 11 PM), when residential internet usage is at its highest.
“The incident has affected partial bandwidth capacity on the SMW4 and IMEWE systems. Our international partners are working on a priority to resolve the issue, while our local teams are actively arranging alternative bandwidth to minimise the impact.”
This “alternative bandwidth” involves rerouting internet traffic through other submarine cables that connect India to the global internet.
India has several other undersea cables, including which are now handling additional data loads to keep services running but the service disruptions may be seeing by the users.
Why It Matters
Submarine cables are the backbone of the modern internet, carrying over 95% of all international data. However, they are vulnerable to damage from ship anchors, fishing activities, and natural underwater events.
The location of the current cuts near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is particularly problematic as it is a major convergence point for cables connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.