Update: 3 Undersea Cable Cuts Hit India Net Traffic !

[dkaile 1,051]

My Airtel is BACK and giving me download speeds upto 70kbps now; I think they are compensating for the days of low speeds...

[Mufaddal 678]

same here ...since last two days i downloading speed has increased two/three folds .....

rapidshare here i come

[Honest 836]

Net woes: RCom asked to detail back-up plans

Business Line l 25 Dec l New Delhi

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked Reliance Communications to give details of measures it had taken to deal with cable cuts. TRAI said the company was told in February to make available adequate bandwidth on alternative routes to take care of such eventualities.

Internet services in the country were thrown out of gear after three cables, including RCom’s FLAG, got cut last week in the Mediterranean Sea.

“You would recall that in January and February of this year SEA-Me-We 4 and FLAG cables were damaged and Reliance Communication was in a similar situation. During the meeting, you were asked to plan for such eventualities in future so that adequate restoration bandwidth is available on the alternative routes and Indian consumers and business organisations served by you do not suffer. You are requested to intimate the arrangements made for routing the traffic via alternative routes in cases of such failure,” TRAI told RCom.

The TRAI move follows a complaint by RCom against rival Bharti Airtel. While Bharti Airtel and Tata Communication’s cable network were also affected due to the cable cuts, they have been able to cushion the impact as they own capacity on alternative routes.

[Honest 836]

RCom submits plan to deal with cable cuts to TRAI

Business Line l 26 Dec l New Delhi

Alternative bandwidth to restore Net services arranged.

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Restoration act

RCom had capacity on three cables connecting Western countries and another two for East-bound traffic

It has restored most of the traffic after a cable cut on FLAG disrupted services

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Reliance Communications Ltd has informed the telecom regulator that it has put in place alternative bandwidth to restore Internet services and International long-distance telephony in the event of one or two cable cuts.

Responding to TRAI’s letter asking the company to explain the back-up plan to deal with cable cuts, RCom said that it had capacity on three cables connecting Western countries and another two cables for East-bound traffic.

The company said that it has restored most of the traffic after a cable cut on FLAG disrupted services last week.

“The restoration was possible due to adequate bandwidth arrangements made by RCom on alternative routes following similar cable cuts in early 2008. RCom’s arrangement is most advanced having planned for 100 per cent traffic restoration in case of one or two cable cuts and 80 per cent traffic restoration in case of three-cable cuts. Diversity on four cables is not seen with any carrier around the world.” RCoM said.

Explaining the reason for not having enough bandwidth to meet the demand after FLAG cable was cut last week, Reliance said that it had acquired additional capacity through its subsidiary Reliance Globalcom Ltd.

“However, the political development in Thailand delayed the entire plan which is now expected to be completed by the end of January 2009. This would provide RCom adequate diversity of cable and routes,” it said. RCom also blamed Bharti Airtel for not responding to its request for new capacity.

“RCom has been in constant communication with Bharti Airtel Ltd since December 19 to access capacity on Sea-Me-We 4 through Bharti’s Meet-Me-Room (MMR) in Chennai. Senior level telephonic discussions continue to be held between Bharti and RCom. As of now, Bharti has not yet delivered the access to the capacity. RCom has been in communication with Bharti over 50 times through Phone calls, SMS and emails in last seven days. We request TRAI intervention for immediate access to capacity as per our request,” RCom said in its letter to the regulator.

Internet and international data services were disrupted last week after three undersea cables got cut in the Mediterranean Sea. One of the cables – FLAG – is owned by Reliance. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has told the regulator that it had received a formal request for access facilitation from Reliance on December 22 after the office hours.

“We have already initiated the process of provisioning of access facilitation to Reliance Communications and shall be providing the same at the earliest,” Bharti said.

[Honest 836]

RCom's FEA cable repaired fully

Press Trust of India l 29 Dec l New Delhi

ADAG Group firm Reliance Communications on Monday said that its subsidiary Flag Europe Asia's damaged sub-marine cable in the Mediterranean Sea has been repaired fully.

"Flag Europe Asia's (FEA) cable, which was under repair due to multiple cuts reported on December 19 has been restored, ensuring full connectivity (Internet and voice)," a statement from the telecom major said.

After the damage to the cable, Reliance Globalcom's, which operates the FLAG cable network, IP traffic through the Mediterranean has been automatically diverted via the Pacific region.

Reliance Globalcoms HAWK cable system is under construction in the Mediterranean region and would provide resilience and diversity on this route once completed, the statement added.

Cuts were reported on multiple sub-marine cables Sea Me We 4, Sea Me We 3, Go and FEA cables in the Mediterranean region last week.

[Arun 795]

Soon, undersea cable cut won’t snap your Net

30 Dec 2008, 0103 hrs IST

Economic Times

India could soon become nearly immune to the occasional undersea cable cuts that hamper Internet and telephone connectivity. Operators

such as Bharti, Reliance, Tata Communications and BSNL are building multiple undersea cables that will enable in country and the entire region to enjoy disruption-free services. Undersea cables were damaged twice this year, slowing down services and in some cases, bringing them to a standstill.

For instance, Bharti and its consortium partners are working on four new cable systems linking Asia to Europe and the US. Ditto with Tata Communications and Reliance Communications (RCOM) that are building four global cable systems. A BSNL- MTNL combine, too, will soon join in — the state-owned telcos will soon place orders to build two cables connecting India to West Asia and Singapore.

The year 2008 saw two major instances where multiple undersea cables had snapped almost simultaneously, leading to internet and phone outages in the Middle East and Asia, including India. The latest incident happened about 10 days ago when three cables — SeaMeWe-3 and SeaMeWe-4, both owned by a consortium of telecom companies, and RCOM’s FLAG — were cut almost at the same time due to seismic activity in the Mediterranean. A similar incident happened in January when three cables — RCOM- owned FLAG and FALCON and the SeaMeWe-4 cables were damaged by the anchors dropped by ships. However, such outages may soon be a thing of the past, if one were to consider the additional capacity along different routes that will soon come into play.

The biggest of these projects is the multi-billion dollar FLAG Next Generation Network being built by RCOM which when completed will cover 50,000 km and span 60 countries across continents. “The project is to be completed by fiscal 2009-10 to build the world’s largest IP network over submarine cable systems and will create capacity to carry 2.5 billion simultaneous voice calls, 300 million simultaneous web chats and 52 million simultaneous video chats,” an RCOM spokesperson said. Millenium Telecom, a JV between BSNL and MTNL, will soon award contracts to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore for the West Asia and Singapore undersea links.