No particular reason. But, it might be useful to think about what the lower bound is for required equipment. If it turns out that the cables were cut with a hacksaw, then as Neverfly pointed out, the lower bound ship size is something that can displace weight equal to the downward force of the cable - which is probably quite large. With my explosives idea, I think (guess, really) that the lower bound is a speedboat. If they have a larger boat then that works too.

On the other hand, the upper bound is something large enough to be noticed. Records are kept of the movements of large ships, so you can't use something that large except as a diversion.

An anchor is blamed for one of the cuts:

HERE

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“Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach.”

- Peter F. Drucker

Re Hack saw theory. Like to see someone hack through an undersea cable with a hack saw. Shocking thought.....

Internet hackers tend to stay grounded.

The joke is that the whole World Wide Net idea, its basic premise, was for a net with multiple redundancy so that it would be resistant to damaged connections. It would seem that the entire connection between India and Europe does through this one (or two) cables off Port Said.

John

The cost of laying the cables, manufacturing the cables and maintaining them is very high. There is only so much redundancy that they can afford.

Are there no connections over land?

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Sure they are. But where land ends and ocean begins... Well.... You can't go overland anymore.

But mideast is connected to Europe though this little thing Asia and Africa, I can see cutting the cables to Australia as a problem, to the Australians.
The system is probably redundant because the region tends to be unstable politically so it is good thing to have multiple connections and under sea makes them hard to cut. The fourth one was actually turned off not cut.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Fun typo from the article...
Millions of toy ships?

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Investigation ongoing:

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I knew it!

OK, I didn't, but it did seem suspicious to me from the beginning.

side question:

are there also cables accross the Atlantic, and if so: how do they pass the tectonic plate edges?

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Yes; A lot of slack...

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

The mid atlantic ridge spreads at about the rate your fingernails grow, so a relatively few feet of slack would meet that need for a long time.

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

How many were cut after? At least five according to some reports? Or was it less all along?

I wasn't worried about the change in distance, but more about the volcanic activity going on at the mid atlantic ridge. I assume there are places that don't have this lava activity and hence allow for a safe passage of cables?

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