southerly link was announced to up to 100 Gbit/s, with equipment from Ciena. FLAG Alcatel-Lucent Optical Network The FLAG Alcatel-Lucent Optical Network (FALCON) cable system, connecting India and several countries in the Persian Gulf, became operational in September 2006. It has landing points in: Suez, As Suways Governorate, Egypt Aqaba, Jordan Jeddah, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia Port Sudan, Sudan Al Hudaydah, Yemen Al Ghaydah, Yemen Al Seeb, Muscat, Oman Khasab, Oman Dubai, United Arab Emirates Sumaisma, Doha, Qatar Manama, Bahrain Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia Al-Safat, Kuwait City, Kuwait Al-Faw, Iraq Bandar Abbas, Iran Chabahar, Iran Mumbai, India There is an additional segment, listed as part of FALCON, but not directly connected. It has landing points in: Thiruvananthapuram, India Hulumale, Malé, the Maldives Colombo, Sri Lanka In 2006, Kenya Data Networks announced plans for a spur from Yemen to Mombasa. FLAG North Asia Loop / Tiger FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL) / Tiger became operational in stages, with the final stages completed in 2002. The FNAL landing points are: Tong Fuk, Lantau Island, Hong Kong Toucheng, Yilan County, Taiwan Busan, Yeongnam, South Korea Wada, Awa District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan West of Mumbai, FLAG has a capacity of 80 Gbit/s. The segment between Lantau, Hong Kong, and Busan, South Korea was broken by the 2006 Hengchun earthquake. Disruptions December 2006 and January 2007 The 2006 Hengchun earthquake on 26 December 2006, off the southwest coast of Taiwan, disrupted internet services in Asia, affecting many Asian countries. Financial transactions, particularly in the foreign exchange market were seriously affected as well. The disruption was caused by damage to several submarine communications cables. January and February 2008 On 30 January 2008, internet services were widely disrupted in the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent following damage to the SEA-ME-WE 4 and FLAG cables in the Mediterranean Sea. BBC News Online reported 70% disruption in Egypt and 60% disruption in India. Problems were reported in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. The respective contributions of the two cable systems to this blackout is unclear. Network outage graphs suggest that the two breaks occurred at 04:30 and 08:00 UTC. The cause of the damage was not declared by either cable operator, but news sources speculated the damage was caused by a ship's anchor near Alexandria. According to the Agence France-Presse, the Kuwaiti government attributed the breaks to "weather conditions and maritime