Ship's anchor tears up internet along the Jersey shore

The island of Jersey has had its internet reduced to a crawl, after a ship's anchor dragging along the seabed sliced through its three main internet cables.

The damaged cable stretch under the English Channel, connecting the largest of the Channel Isles to the UK. Luckily, Jersey residents haven't been completely cut off from the internet, as there is an undamaged cable that connects to France's internet infrastructure, although connection speeds are reported to be exceptionally slow.

Mobile data is also affected.

Although engineers have already been dispatched by the island's telecoms provider, Jersey Telecom (JT), repairs could take up to a week to complete.

In a statement, JT said: "All communications traffic to/from the Channel Islands is now being routed via the submarine cable link with France ... but with all traffic now using this connection, customers may notice some impact on services.

"JT engineers have been working on the situation throughout the night, and have already mobilised the specialist team that repairs major undersea cables.

"It is not possible to get a precise time yet on when those cables will be repaired, but the work will be completed as soon as possible."

JT's director of corporate affairs, Daragh Mc Dermott, added: "We would like to sincerely apologise to our customers for any disruption to their services.

"It is exceptionally unlucky and unprecedented for three submarine cables to the UK to be cut in the same day, and it proves the value of having multiple links in the network, in order to provide a backup connection via France."

Main image credit: Bigstock

Jane McCallion
Deputy Editor

Jane McCallion is ITPro's deputy editor, specializing in cloud computing, cyber security, data centers and enterprise IT infrastructure. Before becoming Deputy Editor, she held the role of Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialise in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.

Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.