By Sebastian Moss, Datacenter Dynamics

Internet and mobile services impacted by severe storm

The cyclonic storm Vardah, which hit eastern India earlier this week, has impacted submarine cables providing Internet services to the region.

Vardah has caused widespread damage, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate and claiming the lives of at least four in Chennai and northern Tamil Nadu.

On December 11, Vardah approached India as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of more than 130 km/h (80 mph), before weakening to a severe cyclonic storm when it made landfall the next day.

The submarine cables of Bharti Airtel and several other telecom companies were disrupted during this approach, The Times of India reports.

“Due to the severe cyclone at Chennai coast, one of our international undersea cables has been damaged and Internet traffic has been partially impacted. As a result, customers in some locations may be experiencing slow Internet/data speeds,” a spokesperson for Airtel said.

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