Date:23/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/23/stories/2008122360270500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Internet slows down in city

K. Srinivas Reddy

Services down due to the damage caused to an undersea cable in the Mediterranean

HYDERABAD: Net users were the frustrated lot in Hyderabad on Monday, as internet slowed down, but when compared to other parts of the country, the twin cities fared better.

The internet slow down was due to the damaged caused to an undersea cable in the Mediterranean Sea affecting the internet and communication links between Europe, Middle East and Asia. According to a rough estimate nearly 30 to 40 per cent of the internet traffic from Hyderabad was affected due to the Mediterranean cable damage. According to Kusumba S, one of the directors of the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), a majority of the bandwidth in Hyderabad is provided by the VSNL and Airtel. While the VSNL rerouted its traffic through a Pacific route, Airtel did not have much of a problem because it is paired with SingTel, the Singapore telecom network. Nearly 60 to 70 per cent of the bandwidth utilisation in Hyderabad is catered to by these two major providers and the rest by other gateway operators like Reliance, Sify, Aircel and BSNL.

Those using bandwidth from these four providers experienced difficulties in using internet services. Hyderabad uses a bandwidth of nearly three GBPS in respect of Home and Small Office Home Office (SOHO) segments and the VSNL and the Airtel were providing nearly two GBPS in these segments. The corporate segment like call centres, outsourced companies and US-based majors, which were not the on VSNL and Airtel suffered the maximum.