New Delhi - Internet users had to cope with slow surfing speeds while companies switched over to backup systems following damage to underwater cables in the Mediterranean sea, officials and reports said Thursday. The slowdown in internet speeds affected India and parts of Middle East since Wednesday after two cables were damaged in the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Egypt, the NDTV network reported.
"There has been a 50 to 60 per cent cut in bandwidth," Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India told reporters.
The Headlines Today news channel reported that the work of India's business process outsourcing including call centres and IT companies were affected as most of their work is dependent on internet-based calls and data transferring.
The slowdown was expected to continue over the next few days as repairs are made. Local news channels reported that it might take 10 to 15 days for the connection to be completely restored.
NDTV reported that the internet disruption was caused by a ship that accidentally cut the cable after it was diverted from the Egyptian port of Alexandria due to bad weather.
"The disruption has affected my work which involves customer-support. The internet is very, very slow and I am unable to access my email account and send replies to customers," said Vijay Jethani, a company executive in national capital New Delhi.
Cyber-cafés across Delhi had to bear the brunt and ended up losing business.
"The internet is working slow and most of the customers are disappointed, particularly the young ones who come here to chat," said Suresh Mehra, an owner of a cyber-café in south Delhi.
