Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) is a 28,000-kilometre-long (17,398 mi; 15,119 nmi) fibre optic mostly-submarine communications cable that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and many places in between.

[3] The Europe–Asia segment was laid by Cable & Wireless Marine in the mid-1990s, and was the subject of an article in Wired magazine in December 1996 by Neal Stephenson.

The signal power is amplified by pumping the erbium-doped fibre (EDF) with 1,480 nm laser light which is attached through an optical coupler.

[6][clarification needed] Cable landing points are: FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) was the first segment opened for commercial use on 22 November 1997.

Alcatel Submarine Networks laid the undersea portion, and the entire cost was estimated at $1.1 billion.

[10] 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:[12] In 2006, Kenya Data Networks announced plans for a spur from Yemen to Mombasa.

The 2006 Hengchun earthquake on 26 December 2006, off the southwest coast of Taiwan, disrupted internet services in Asia, affecting many Asian countries.

[19] 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.

[21] Problems were reported in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

Reliance Globalcom completed the repair on the FLAG EUROPE ASIA (FEA) cable on 29 December 2008, at 14:15 GMT.

Customer services that were affected due to the cable cut have been restored back normal with the completion of repairs.

[33] Damage to FNAL caused by Typhoon Morakot was reported as affecting internet traffic to China on 18 August 2009.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia all felt major effects from the same cut, and to a lesser extent Comoros and Tanzania.