Internet and phone communications remain troublesome across much of the Middle East today, following a multiple undersea cable break in the Mediterranean on Friday.

AP reports that the SEA-ME-WE4 and SEA-ME-WE3 cables were both broken between Sicily and Tunisia, and that a repair ship operated by France Telecom Marine is now at the site searching for the severed ends with a remotely-operated submersible. Once the ends are found, they will be lifted to the surface and rejoined, a process which will take some time.

It is understood that a third line was also cut, probably as a result of the same incident, but this is operated by the FLAG cable company and will be repaired by a different ship.

The cause of the breaks will be unknown until the cable ends are found. Ship's anchors and fishing activity are the most common causes of undersea cable problems, which occur on a weekly basis.

Reports indicate that Egypt was initially badly affected by Friday's breakages, but that "eighty per cent" capacity has now been restored by re-routing. Other countries in the Middle East remain severely affected, according to reports.

Two of the same cables were broken in another incident early this year, in that case just north of the Egyptian coast. ®

Related stories

• Spooks foils fictional Russian plot (1 November 2008)
• Seabed cables will be fixed by next week (8 February 2008)
• Submarine cable cut torpedoes Middle East access (30 January 2008)
• Google readies Pacific-spanning, Verizon-battling underwater comm cable (21 September 2007)
• Flag, GTS moves will aid global bandwidth (4 April 1999)