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28 March 2024

Etisalat warning: Slower Internet in UAE due to cable cut

Published
By Waheed Abbas

UAE’s largest telecom operator Etisalat today (Wednesday) warned of slower Internet browsing speed to its customers due to a technical glitch.

It said there is an interruption of the main line which could slow down the internet browsing speed in the UAE.

The telecom operator said: “Dear Customer, you may experience a drop in internet browsing speeds due to a cable cut. We are working to fix this at the earliest.”

News reports said that the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) fiber cable was cut which is leading to a degradation of Internet speed by 60 per cent in several countries - including Middle East. It's said the cut took place off the coast of Egypt. The optical fiber cable system is the primary internet backbone between Europe, Middle East, Sub-continent and Europe.

The UAE telecom provider last year announced that had it spent almost Dh19 billion for its fiber optics project alone in an attempt to connect UAE homes with the technologically advanced fiber optics network.

Etisalat’s overall subscribers in the UAE increased eight per cent year-on-year to nine million in 2012. Mobile subscribers rose to 7 million, registering a growth of 12 per cent but fixed line subscribers fell six per cent to 1.1 million.

Its fixed broadband subscribers rose by eight per cent to 0.8 million. Etisalat's posted net profit of Dh6.74 billon for 2012, down 24 per cent from a 2009 peak of Dh8.8 billion.

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