NEW DELHI, Feb 2: Another Middle East undersea internet cable has been damaged, adding to disruption in Indian online services caused when several lines were cut earlier this week, a cable operating firm said on Saturday.

The Falcon cable was cut 56 kilometres from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner FLAG Telecom, part of India’s Reliance Communications.

The company said on its website that a repair ship had been notified and was expected to arrive at the site in the next few days. The cause of the latest cable damage was not immediately known.

Flag Telecom owns another undersea cable which was damaged off Egypt on Wednesday in the Mediterranean. Indian media reports have attributed that damage to a ship’s anchor which dropped on the cable.

On the same day in Kuwait, the government reported two cables damaged by “weather conditions and maritime traffic”. The cable damage has left India’s vital outsourcing industry grappling with major communications disruptions and businesses saying they could take up to two weeks to return to normal.

It has also disrupted internet service across the Middle East and other parts of South Asia.

A repair ship was expected to arrive by next Tuesday to restore the FLAG Telecom cable that was damaged off Egypt, the company said.

Smaller Indian firms will be hit as they depend on a single service provider, said R.S Perhar, secretary of the internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI).—AFP