February 1: Bhutan Telecom has announced that due to a major submarine cable cut in the Mediterranean Sea, Internet services in the kingdom have been badly affected. Bhutan Telecom says broadband users will not be able to connect to Internet. The problem is expected to be fixed soon.

The kingdom’s first ever international access using optical fiber cable was commissioned earlier this month. The International Fiber link extends from Phuentsholing to London via Mumbai.

Bhutan Telecom was able to acquire the cable connection with close cooperation from Reliance and Fiber Link across the Globe for access to the submarine fibre cable via Mumbai.

Media reports say that Internet services in India and large parts of West Asia have been affected by this development.

Internet service providers in India have put the disruption at 60% of normal services while those in Egypt have been affected up to 70%.

Other countries affected in West Asia are the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The cable service provider has said the 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.