The Omagh Enterprise Centre is a hub for Project Kelvin, a telecommunications cable linking Northern Ireland to the USA and Europe.

BBC: Rural county sees struggles with speed

News of the outage came as another cable - the Main One cable linking Europe with Western Africa - was switched on.

BBC: East Africa internet cable firm Seacom identifies fault

Technicians on the roof, examining a microwave link to a remote transmitter, also found a cable linking to a second alleged pirate station, that while not transmitting, contained radio equipment which officials also seized.

BBC: The pirates' view of pirate radio

An underwater fiber cable linking Cuba and Venezuela has given the island a hard connection to the internet since 2011, but reports have said that only government bodies from both countries have used the line.

ENGADGET

Six telecommunications companies have formed a consortium to build a submarine cable system linking Malaysia, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka with the Middle East, which could boost data connectivity significantly in the region as operators expand their data offerings to boost earnings.

WSJ: Telecom Consortium to Build Undersea Cable Network