SEA-ME-WE 3

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SEA-ME-WE-3
Cable type Fiber optic cable
operator 93 different
Landing points Landing points
overall length 39,000 km
technology Wavelength division multiplexing
active since August 30, 1999

SEA-ME-WE 3 or South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 is a submarine cable that connects Europe , Africa , Asia and Australia . It was put into operation on August 30, 1999. The cable is the third in a series of similarly named submarine cables connecting Europe and East Asia. This was preceded by SEA-ME-WE 1 and SEA-ME-WE 2 . SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5 followed later .

operator

The cable system is operated by a consortium of 93 telecommunications companies from 58 countries.

Technical specifications

With a total length of 39,000 km, SEA-ME-WE-3 is the world's largest submarine cable system. Wavelength division multiplexing is used to increase capacity and improve signal quality . The maximum transmission capacity is 8 × 2.5 Gbps.

Landing points

Location and landing points of the SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine cable

The cable has 39 landing points in 33 countries and on four continents.

  1. North , Germany
  2. Ostend , Belgium
  3. Goonhilly , United Kingdom
  4. Penmarc'h , France
  5. Sesimbra , Portugal
  6. Tetouan , Morocco
  7. Mazara del Vallo , Italy
  8. Chania , Greece
  9. Marmaris , Turkey
  10. Yeroskipos , Cyprus
  11. Alexandria , Egypt
  12. Suez , Egypt
  13. Jeddah , Saudi Arabia
  14. Djibouti , Djibouti
  15. Muscat , Oman
  16. Fujairah , United Arab Emirates
  17. Karachi , Pakistan
  18. Mumbai , India
  19. Kochi , India
  20. Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia , Sri Lanka
  21. Pyapon , Myanmar
  22. Satun , Thailand
  23. Penang , Malaysia
  24. Medan , Indonesia
  25. Tuas , Singapore
  26. Jakarta , Indonesia
  27. Perth , Australia
  28. Mersing , Malaysia
  29. Tungku , Brunei
  30. Da Nang , Vietnam
  31. Batangas City , Philippines
  32. Taipa , Macau
  33. Deep Water Bay , Hong Kong
  34. Shantou , China
  35. Fengshan , Taiwan
  36. Toucheng , Taiwan
  37. Shanghai , China
  38. Keoje , South Korea
  39. Okinawa , Japan

Disruptions

Damage from ship anchors

The cable was probably damaged twice in the first two years after it was put into operation by ship anchors, which resulted in sometimes considerable disruptions in data traffic on several continents, which, however, could be countered at short notice by switching to alternative routes.

The first such damage occurred in November 2000 off the coast of Singapore. Australia, which was at times completely cut off from the Internet, was most affected, along with Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong; Great Britain and the USA to a very small extent.

Australia was again cut off from the Internet for several hours due to a cable break that occurred off the coast of China near Shantou in September 2001 . China itself could allegedly switch to alternative routes.

earthquake

On December 26, 2006, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Taiwan damaged the cable in East Asia. This has led to disruptions in telephone and Internet traffic to and from East Asia. In December 2008, large parts of the Middle East could not be reached via SEA-ME-WE 4 (SMW4), SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3) and FLAG EA because the cables between Italy and Egypt were broken. Although rumors of an attack were spread, it was probably an earthquake.

Alleged defect in Myanmar

A failure of the Internet in Myanmar during the demonstrations at the end of September 2007 could not, as claimed by the Myanmar government, be ascribed to a defect in SEA-ME-WE 3. The causes of the failure remain unclear.

2013

A disruption to SEA-ME-WE 3 between Singapore and Perth in Indonesian territorial waters affected Internet traffic in Australia at the beginning of 2013.

Intelligence surveillance

In the summer of 2013, documents from the former NSA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the British secret service GCHQ should be able to intercept or save the data traffic from SEA-ME-WE 3 in full, presumably at the Goonhilly landing site in Cornwall as part of the Tempora intelligence program . The Australian intelligence service Defense Signals Directorate provides administrative assistance under the UKUSA (Five Eyes) agreement .

Web link

swell

  1. ↑ telepolis: Information highway under the ocean ( Memento from December 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Anton A. Huurdeman: The Worldwide History of Telecommunications . 1st edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-20505-2 , pp. 462-463 (English).
  3. ↑ Background www.smw3.com
  4. ↑ heise online: World's longest undersea internet cable damaged
  5. ↑ heise online: Australia temporarily offline after cable break
  6. ↑ Three major undersea cables slashed
  7. ↑ a b Deutschlandfunk: Computer und Kommunikation from January 10, 2009
  8. ↑ heise online: Myanmar's government is lying to the public about Internet failure
  9. ↑ Undersea cable cut near Egypt slows down Internet in Africa, Middle East, South Asia Om Malik, gigaom.com, March 27, 2013
  10. ↑ whirlpool 2013-Feb-11
  11. ↑ Internet surveillance British secret service taps data from Germany from Süddeutsche, 28 August 2013
  12. ↑ netzpolitik.org: Australia: Western secret services collect all the data that goes over the largest submarine cable system in the world , from August 29, 2013
  13. ↑ theage.com.au: Australian spies in global deal to tap undersea cables , dated August 29, 2013