New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- Ever wonder how your Instagram feed loads in a blink, or how a Zoom call from Mumbai to London stays crystal clear? It's all thanks to a massive network of undersea fiber-optic cables silently spanning the ocean floor. These cables form the internet's invisible backbone-carrying over 95% of global data traffic.

But what happens when this backbone takes a hit? On Saturday, cable cuts in the Red Sea, a critical route for both global trade and communications, disrupted internet access in parts of Asia and West Asia.

Mint breaks down what undersea cable cuts mean for your internet, how and why they happen, how long repairs take, why the Red Sea is a strategic hotspot, and how telecom companies and technology giants are...