The aftermath of last week’s undersea cable damage incident has taken a dramatic turn. While the repair work is still on, the latest statements from Egypt’s Ministry of Communications stated that no ships were present when the two marine cables carrying much of Middle East's internet traffic were severed.

The ministry had originally stated that the anchored ship caused damage to the two key cables, which resulted in reduction in the internet bandwidth affecting countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. The above statement was released based on the information released by the Egyptian Marine Transport Committee, which is investigating this conspiracy. They monitored the traffic of ships in the area, 12 hours before and after the incident and concluded that there were no passing ships at that time. This revelation has sparked many speculations. One of the versions was that a US submarine deliberately damaged the lines to affect the internet traffic to Iran and while the other refers to a supposed terrorist attack to cut off connectivity and communication between the US and the rest of the world.

Biztech2.0 spoke to G Radhakrishna Pillai, CIO, SRL Ranbaxy, who stressed that companies should hire multiple service providers to keep their data traffic alive. Satish Pendse, CIO, Hindustan Construction Company also recommended a multiple service provider. "A basic assessment needs to be done before selecting a service provider, an enterprise must check the alternate paths of connectivity. Ideally a company must have access to three or four different routes of connectivity," he said. However, this might seem prudent but may not be feasible for some.

"While large companies can afford multiple service providers, smaller enterprises are often severely affected as they cannot afford multiple providers," said Bhaskar Sayyaparaju, CTO, Sify Technologies. He also added that this is not the first time that Indian enterprises are exposed to such unpleasant incidents and suggested that they must be prepared for the future.

Anwer Bagdadi, CTO, CFC India Services, agreeing to Sayyaparaju stated that to a large extend big enterprises can function in the event of situations arising, however SMBs often struggle to effectively manage during such mishaps. "SMBs must decide whether internet connectivity is critical to their survival. They must choose between survival and saving cost," he said. Striking a positive note, he also added that India is much better off than other developing countries and have come a long way in providing internet connectivity. He concluded that India has more landing stations, which has saved us from the severity of such incidents.