What each country and landing point keeps if Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) goes down. A calculation from our cable and landing-point database, not a forecast.
Every landing point of this cable has another cable within 50 km.
No alerts from our monitoring on this cable in the last 180 days. Events feed →
Counted: other international cables landing in the same country (domestic cables between points of one country are not a way out), other cables at landing points within 50 km, and whether the country has land links. Not counted: cable capacity, operator contracts and satellite. Use as a first look at dependence, not as a statement of what would happen.
Live Performance
280
measurements
6
probes
207
days monitored
200.4
ms avg RTT
0
anomalies
Monitored from 2026-03-08 through 2026-10-01 - live ICMP round-trip time measurements via our monitoring probes. All values below are recomputed daily from raw probe data. ✓ No anomalies detected in the monitored period.
Measurement sources
Probe
Location
Samples
Avg
Min-Max
Last seen
#1042
control probe
68
215.3 ms
44.4-380.3
2026-10-01
#6410 own probe
Sao Paulo BR
61
350.7 ms
345.4-394.4
2026-09-16
own probe
Almaty KZ
61
247.8 ms
224.5-337.3
2026-09-16
#6487
control probe
60
49.9 ms
48.8-52.3
2026-08-07
#7595
control probe
29
60.5 ms
24.4-141.0
2026-09-16
own probe
Jerusalem IL
1
209.0 ms
209.0-209.0
2026-09-16
About the Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) Cable System
Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC): A regional link between South Asia's island nations
The Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) is a submarine telecommunications cable connecting Hulhumale in the Maldives and Mt. Lavinia in Sri Lanka. Spanning 863 kilometers, it provides direct connectivity between the two countries. The cable is owned by three operators: Dhiraagu, Dialog Axiata, and Ooredoo Maldives, all of which are prominent telecom providers in the region.
What makes the MSC particularly interesting is the limited public disclosure about its technical specifications, such as design capacity, fiber pair count, and supplier details. While GeoCables records its ready-for-service (RFS) year as 2021, it is worth noting that discrepancies in submarine cable commissioning dates sometimes arise due to delays in deployment, staggered activation, or differences in reporting standards. Additionally, live latency measurements from remote probes suggest a significant disparity between theoretical and observed performance, highlighting the complexity of real-world internet paths.
The MSC connects Hulhumale, an urban island in the Maldives known for its growing infrastructure, to Mt. Lavinia, a coastal suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hulhumale is a hub for several submarine cables, including the India Asia Xpress (IAX) and SeaMeWe-6, while Mt. Lavinia hosts the Bharat Lanka Cable System. This route provides direct connectivity between the Maldives and Sri Lanka, bypassing intermediate landing points.
Why it was built and what it carries
The MSC was built to enhance regional connectivity between the Maldives and Sri Lanka, supporting the growing demand for internet and data services in both countries. As island nations, the Maldives and Sri Lanka rely heavily on submarine cables for international telecommunications. The cable likely carries a mix of internet traffic, enterprise data, and other digital communications, though specific traffic types and volumes have not been disclosed.
History: what can be established
GeoCables records the MSC's ready-for-service year as 2021, and it is listed as in service. Publicly available sources do not provide additional details about its commissioning process or any delays. If conflicting dates exist in industry sources, they may stem from variations in reporting standards, such as the distinction between physical deployment and commercial activation.
Capacity and technology
The design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, and technology used in the MSC have not been disclosed in public sources. Without operator documentation, attributing these specifications would be speculative. Submarine cables of this type typically use dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology to maximize capacity, but confirmation of this for the MSC is unavailable.
Latency: the physics
Theoretical one-way light propagation over the MSC's 863 km wet segment is approximately 4.2 milliseconds, with a round-trip time (RTT) floor of 8.5 milliseconds. However, live measurements from remote probes show significantly higher latencies. For example, the minimum observed RTT between Hulhumale and Mt. Lavinia is 44.4 milliseconds, far exceeding the theoretical floor. This discrepancy arises from additional factors such as land tails, terminal equipment, and routing inefficiencies. Similarly, measurements from global locations like Singapore, Almaty, and Sao Paulo reveal the impact of broader internet path complexities.
Redundancy: what happens if it breaks
In the event of a disruption to the MSC, redundancy is provided by other cables landing at Hulhumale and Mt. Lavinia. Hulhumale hosts several submarine systems, including the Dhiraagu Cable Network, Domestic Submarine Cable of Maldives (DSCoM), and SeaMeWe-6, while Mt. Lavinia connects to the Bharat Lanka Cable System. Repairs to submarine cables typically involve specialized cable ships equipped with tools to locate, retrieve, and fix the damaged sections. These operations can take weeks depending on the severity of the damage and environmental conditions.
Bottom line
The Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) spans 863 km and connects Hulhumale (Maldives) to Mt. Lavinia (Sri Lanka).
It is owned by Dhiraagu, Dialog Axiata, and Ooredoo Maldives, and was recorded as ready-for-service in 2021.
Technical specifications such as design capacity, fiber pairs, supplier, and technology have not been publicly disclosed.
Live latency measurements show significant deviations from theoretical values due to real-world network factors.
Redundancy is provided by other cables at the landing points, such as SeaMeWe-6 and Bharat Lanka Cable System.