Internet Downtime Hits East Africa: Faulty Cables Cause Connectivity Issues
On Sunday, Kenyans and those in East Africa faced internet connectivity issues, with many users struggling to browse.
The cause of the internet downtime was identified as two faulty cables located in the Red Sea.
Ben Roberts, the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, informed that three providers responsible for the cable systems had not yet repaired the cuts causing the outage.
Roberts highlighted that all sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa was unavailable during the outage.
He emphasized, “Internet to East Africa is severely impaired. All sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down.”
Roberts also verified that there was a fault in the Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) cable and another in the Seacom submarine cable. Interestingly, both faults occurred simultaneously.
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The EASSy cable spans 10,000 kilometers along the East Coast of Africa, connecting nine landing stations from Sudan to South Africa. It serves as a backhaul system for landlocked countries and supports extensive coverage in East Africa.
In contrast, SEACOM, a 17,000 km submarine cable, links South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Djibouti, France, and India.
Ben Roberts summarized the situation: “EASSy Cable – Fault confirmed, Seacom Cable – Observing Fault that occurred at the same time, 3 cable cuts in Red Sea (Seacom, EIG, AAE1) remain unrepaired.”
Tanzania also faced connectivity issues, with some areas experiencing complete blackouts while others had intermittent access to services.
Although some service providers managed to offer limited access, many users were completely offline, according to a local daily report.
This isn’t the first time such faults have occurred. In March 2024, Kenyans were warned of a two-month internet disruption due to a cable break in the Red Sea. Similar warnings were issued earlier in February following faults in other cable systems.
Internet Downtime Hits East Africa: Faulty Cables Cause Connectivity Issues
