- By Prateek Levi
- Sat, 21 Mar 2026 06:07 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The war between the US-Israel and Iran has entered into its third week, and now there are anxieties that ripples of this war will be felt beyond just missiles, military operations and oil. With the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz still in effect, fears of war's impact spilling over beyond just oil logistics, loom high. Now the internet we get comes to us through undersea cables laid not just in the Middle East but globally. The impact of the conflict appears to be spilling into digital infrastructure as well. Last week, Meta informed Bloomberg that it has paused part of its 2Africa project, a massive 45,000-kilometre undersea cable initiative aimed at improving internet connectivity across Africa and the Gulf region.
Now this development is significant, as it directly impacts the parts where the cable passes through landing stations positioned in Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India and South Africa. Now all these countries, barring India, are located in very close proximity to the ongoing war, and Facebook had plans to launch this section of cable this year itself.
At the same time, Alcatel Submarine Networks, which is handling the cable deployment, has reportedly sent out force majeure notices to its clients. As per a Bloomberg report, its installation vessel, the Île de Batz, is currently stuck off the coast of Dammam.
Why This Matters
The fibre optic connection that we get our internet through is laid all along major sea routes and seabeds, and the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf carry more than 95% of the world's internet traffic. This means the videos you stream, the emails you reply to and the podcasts you like to watch, along with servers for financial transactions – all of it relies on the cables laid in the seabed. Going by reports of Capacity Global, the Red Sea holds about 17 such submarine cables alone, connecting major continents like Europe, Asia and Africa. TeleGeography points to the fact that the Strait of Hormuz holds equal importance when it comes to these cables; it holds major cable systems like AAE-1, FALCON, the Gulf Bridge International Cable System, and the Tata TGN Gulf. All of these pass through the blocked Strait of Hormuz.
These cables form an important point of contact for the Gulf, connecting it to massive data centres in the region set up by tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which in turn connect to billions of users globally. The cables can be easily damaged either by naval action, ship anchors or direct military conquest. Iran already has sea mines lined up in the blocked strait, which has bought shipping to a standstill.
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A similar incident last year showed just how fragile this infrastructure can be. A cable break in the Red Sea ended up disrupting internet services across India, Pakistan, and parts of the Middle East. Reports at the time pointed to a commercial ship’s anchor dragging across the seabed and damaging multiple undersea cables. The region is especially exposed to such risks, as many of these cables run through relatively shallow waters, making them easier to hit.