Perth to Singapore SEA-ME-WE-3 cable severed again

The SEA-ME-WE-3 cable linking Perth to Singapore was once again cut last night and will undergo repairs.

According to an iiNet fault notice, the cable was broken at 11.45 pm WST yesterday. The provider is advising that customers may experience higher than usual latency or delays in web speeds, particularly between some international destinations.

A repair ship has arrived at the point of breakage and currently the estimated date and time of restoration is 6:00 pm December 2, Perth time. The cut is believed to be in the Perth to Jakarta section of the cable.

It is not known who or what caused the cable breakage at this stage.

The SEA-ME-WE-3 cable system spans 39,000 kilometres between Australia, South-East Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe. It has suffered a history of damage.

It was cut last January, affecting iiNet, New Zealand incumbent Spark, and Vocus, with the repairs taking almost four months to complete due to lengthy administrative processes delaying a repair ship's arrival in Indonesian waters.

The two-fibre strand cable system has a maximum capacity of 480 gigabits per second.