UPDATE 2-Cable breaks cut Internet in Mideast, South Asia

(Adds Indian firms' comments on outage, suspected cause)

By Jonathan Wright

CAIRO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Breaks in submarine cables which link Europe and the Middle East disrupted Internet and international telephone services in parts of the Middle East and South Asia, officials said on Saturday.

The disruption reduced Egypt's Internet capacity by about 80 percent and technicians were restoring some capacity by diverting communications traffic through the Red Sea, said a Communications Ministry official who asked not to be named.

Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the National Telecom Regulatory Authority as saying it expected Internet services to improve gradually to between 50 and 60 percent of full capacity.

India's Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) said a fibre had been cut on the SEA-ME-WE 4 and other major submarine cables near Palermo in Italy, affecting the overall traffic between India and Europe.

A Tata Communications (TATA.BO) spokesman blamed the problems, which began late on Friday, on seismic activity in the Mediterranean.

MENA quoted an unnamed official as saying that the Italian authorities had confirmed that five cables had been cut, though there was no immediate confirmation from the Rome authorities.

In January, breaks in undersea cables off the Egyptian coast disrupted Internet access in Egypt, the Gulf region and south Asia, forcing service providers to reroute traffic and disrupting some businesses and financial dealings.