Batelco announces FLAG cable repair work completed

Batelco has also invested in three diverse paths (SFO, FALCON and FOG) to access such international connectivity.

Such network resilience and diversity is considered 'best practice' in the telecommunications industry globally and has served Bahrain well in the past minimising disruption to telecommunications services over the years.

Unfortunately on December 19th the three international cables (FLAG, SMW3 and SMW4) were damaged between Alexandria, Egypt and Palermo Italy. Up to 60% of Batelco's internet uplinks were affected in addition to a number of international leased lines for corporate customers and a few telephony circuits. As a result of the damage all Batelco traffic and services on this particular route were temporarily affected.

"Despite the loss of 3 major international cables connecting the Middle East to the rest of the world our customers have not suffered unduly. Batelco's network has been carefully designed to provide significant resilience and diversity,"

said Ahmed Al Janahi, General Manager Media & Government Relations, Batelco.

"Batelco engineers at the 24x7 Network Operations Centre (NOC) instantaneously started re-routing internet, voice and data traffic to other cable systems to alleviate congestion and restore services. The FLAG cable repair work has been completed and most of Batelco's traffic and services are operational. Internet and International phone services are fully recovered. Repair work on the other two cables continues and is expected to be completed within a few days. All our network engineers and other specialists have been on full alert and available to assist, as required. They continue to monitor the situation from our NOC around the clock." added Mr. Al Janahi.


Several Gulf countries besides Bahrain have been affected by the damage to these crucial cables. Batelco's multi-million dollar investments in multiple cable systems with significant diversity, expert network planning and extremely responsive restoration initiatives have protected Bahrain from experiencing a very severe disconnection with the rest of the world.

"We appreciate our customers' cooperation and understanding while the repair work is being completed," Mr. Al Janahi concluded.