FALCON (cable system)

FALCON is a submarine telecommunications cable connecting India and several countries in the Persian Gulf. The cable is operated by India's Flag Telecom, a fully-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications.

Landing points are: [http://www.flagtelecom.com/index.cfm?page=4023 http://www.flagtelecom.com/index.cfm?page=4023] ]
*Suez, Egypt
*Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
*Port Sudan, Sudan
*Al Hudaydah, Yemen
*Al Ghaydah, Yemen
*Al Seeb, Oman
*Khasab, Oman
*Jebel Ali, UAE
*Sumaisma, Qatar
*Manama, Bahrain
*Dammam, Saudi Arabia
*Kuwait City, Kuwait
*Mumbai, India

There is an additional segment, listed as part of FALCON, but not directly connected. It has landing points at:
*Trivendrum, India
*Hulumale, the Maldives
*Male, the Maldives

Cable cut on 1 February 2008

The "FALCON cable is reported cut at 0559 hrs GMT on February 1 2008. Location of cut is at 56 km from Dubai, UAE on segment between UAE and Oman." [ [http://www.flagtelecom.com/index.cfm?channel=4328&NewsID=27492 Flag Telecom cut cable update] Reliance Globecom Feb 2008] This happened just two days after service interruptions in the FLAG and SEA-ME-WE4 cable.

An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days.

On February 1, 2008, Zawya Dow Jones reported a third undersea Internet cable cut was cut in Mideast and it may be weeks to repair the damage. Two undersea cables were cut off Egypt, and one cut about 50 kilometers off Dubai.

Reports are then confirmed by other news organisations including CNN [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/index.html CNN] - Official reports cite "ship anchors" as the probable cause]

ee also

* SEA-ME-WE 4 - undersea cable following a similar route
* List of international submarine communications cables

References