An undersea internet cable linking Australia with Asia has been cut, just six weeks after being repaired.
The 39,000 kilometre SEA-ME-WE3 cable linking Perth and Singapore took 50 days to fix after suffering multiple cuts in August.
Internet users are now facing the prospect of slow speeds for weeks, and no time-frame has been given for when repairs might be completed.
An undersea internet cable linking Australia with Asia has been cut, just six weeks after being repaired (pictured is an undersea cable linking Spain to the US)
‘Customers can expect to see increased latency to Asian destinations until this link is restored,’ Vocus Communications told its users, ARNnet reported.
‘Our provider has advised that the location of the fault is approximately 1126km from the cable landing station in Singapore.’
While the cable is down internet traffic from Asia will have to be rerouted through the US, as during previous breakages.
Vocus Communications head Luke Mackinnon said the breakage showed the importance of a new buried cable which is under construction.
The 39,000 kilometre SEA-ME-WE3 cable linking Perth and Singapore took 50 days to fix after suffering multiple cuts in August (pictured are is Australia’s undersea cable network)
‘It [the cable] is a fragile system and as outages like this – the third this year – show, Australia requires more robust alternatives and more capacity to Southeast Asia,’ he said.
The new cable, being laid in a trench 4 metres below the seabed, is more than halfway complete and due to be finished by mid-2018.
The cause of the latest cut is unknown, but previous breakages were caused by typhoons and tropical storms in Southeast Asia.
The cable is named SEA-ME-WE3 for its links between Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.
Completed in 2000, it is the longest undersea telecommunications cable in the world.
The cable has been cut three times since December 11 2016.
Internet users are now facing the prospect of slow speeds for weeks, and no time-frame has been given for when repairs might be completed (pictured are workers laying an undersea internet cable in Spain)