Multiple subsea fiber optic cables in the Red Sea suffered simultaneous cuts on September 6, 2025, disrupting global internet and communications traffic. An estimated 90% of all internet traffic between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East travels via 14 submarine cables in the Red Sea. Seventeen cables in the Red Sea facilitate approximately 18% of data traffic between Asia, Africa and Europe Gulf ambitions to become a global AI leader must contend with a changing subsea cable landscape, as hyperscalers build private networks and operators seek terrestrial corridors bypassing. In March 2024, the global communications network faced a significant threat due to the potential severing of the Red Sea undersea fiber optic cable. This vital cable connects Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and its disruption could have led to major impacts on global financial markets and. Months after the Houthi assaults on commercial sea-faring vessels traversing the Red Sea, the rebels exacerbated pressures on the Western governments by damaging critical sub-sea optic fibre cables near the Yemeni coast.
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