Egypt has only 40 pct Internet after cables break

By Wael Gamal

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt had less than half its Internet capacity available on Thursday because of breaks in two undersea cables that have also affected the Gulf region and south Asia.

The connections were disrupted off Egypt's northern coast on Wednesday, slowing or stopping Internet access for users across parts of Asia, and forcing service providers to reroute traffic.

Egyptian Telecommunications Minister Tarek Kamel said his country's Internet capacity would reach 45 to 50 percent by the end of the day.

"Capacity will be increased to 75 percent in 48 hours at the most through alternative cables and satellites," he added, at a signing ceremony for a new cable linking Egypt and France.

"Now nearly everyone is connected, but by different degrees. Only call centers still have serious problems."

He said it would take at least a week to fix the breaches, which are in segments of two intercontinental cables known as SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG.

India, home to three companies that have stakes in the cables, said in a statement: "It is expected that the links will be completely restored by the ... operators within 10 days".

The International Cable Protection Committee, an association of 86 submarine cable operators dedicated to safeguarding submarine cables ( www.iscpc.org/ ), declined to speculate on the cause of the breaches.