Bangladesh escapes big internet crisis as SMW-5 restored after 2.5 hours

The crucial submarine cable Sea-Me-We-5 (SMW-5), which handles a significant portion of Bangladesh's international internet connectivity, was restored after being down for approximately two and a half hours. The cable experienced disruptions in both eastbound and westbound connections around 11:30am on Saturday. Normal service was restored around 2pm, averting a potential major internet crisis.

According to Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company PLC (BSCPLC), the company was awaiting detailed information on the fault from the cable's main consortium after the disruption, which initially prevented them from specifying the exact cause or the expected repair time.

SMW-5 connects to Bangladesh through the Kuakata landing station. According to BSCPLC, a significant portion of the country's international bandwidth is carried through this cable. The current lit capacity of the SMW-5 cable is approximately 2,200 Gbps, with a large portion directed towards Singapore.

During the outage, some internet service providers had to reroute traffic through alternative international connections. This caused temporary slowdowns for users accessing foreign websites and servers, online meetings, file downloads and other internationally dependent services. However, internet services across the country did not completely shut down due to the availability of these backup connections.

Bangladesh's international connectivity also relies on SMW-4 and terrestrial cable links with India. These alternative systems play a crucial role in keeping the overall internet infrastructure operational when a fault occurs in one submarine cable. BSCPLC documents also highlight SMW-4 and SMW-5 as key infrastructure for creating redundancy or backup capacity in the country's international connections.

Although connectivity has been restored, the exact cause of the temporary fault remains unconfirmed. Initial reports suggested a possible technical issue related to Sri Lanka's Matara landing station, but final confirmation requires a report from the SMW-5 consortium. The cable is part of an international network stretching from Singapore to France, with landing stations in multiple countries, including Sri Lanka's Matara.