Published: 12:17, September 8, 2025
Red Sea cable cuts disrupt internet across Asia and the Middle East
By Reuters
3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Microsoft Azure cloud service logo in this illustration taken Feb 8, 2022. (PHOTO / REUTERS)

Internet connectivity in multiple countries including India and Pakistan has been affected due to subsea cable outages in the Red Sea, internet monitoring group Netblocks said.

Similar internet disruptions were also observed on Etilasat and Du networks in the United Arab Emirates, Netblocks said.

ALSO READ: Microsoft to invest $3 billion in India, to expand AI and cloud capacity

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the damage but Netblocks identified failures affecting cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Microsoft on Saturday said that its Microsoft Azure users may experience increased latency due to multiple undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.

The company said its users may experience service disruptions on traffic routes through the Middle East. Azure, the world's second largest cloud provider after Amazon's AWS, has rerouted traffic through alternative network paths and network traffic is not interrupted.

READ MORE: Oracle to invest $6.5 billion to set up cloud facilities in Malaysia

"We do expect higher latency on some traffic that previously traversed through the Middle East. Network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted," Microsoft said.