Bye-Bye Bandwidth

Call Center

Snapped undersea cables off the coast of Egypt have cut bandwidth in India to half its normal capacity. Users from Bangladesh to Egypt have been affected, and even Dubai's stock exchange experienced some problems late Wednesday. Big companies with backup plans probably won't be hurt too badly, but the outsourcing industry could experience some hiccups, as all those administrative and customer-service-related tasks could slow.

Officials aren't sure what caused the damage, though a ship's anchor was cited as a possibility. One story contends that a ship was instructed to moor in an unusual spot off the coast of Alexandria, and dropped anchor right on the cable. Oops.