Safaricom acknowledged the outage, which affected one of the
undersea cables carrying internet traffic in and out of the country, and
assured customers it was working to minimise disruptions.“
We have experienced an outage on one of the undersea cables
that deliver internet traffic in and out of the country," Safaricom said
in a notice.
"We have since activated redundancy measures to
minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full
restoration of the cable.”
Liquid Intelligent Technologies chief technology and
innovation officer, Ben Roberts, confirmed faults in both the Eastern Africa
Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the Seacom cables, effectively severing all
sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa.
He claimed the EASSy fault occurred 45km north of Durban.
Its me again. Internet to East Africa is severely impaired. All sub sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down.
— Ben Roberts 🇬🇧🇰🇪 (@benliquidkenya) May 12, 2024
EASSy Cable - Fault confirmed
Seacom Cable - Observing Fault that occurred at same time.
3 cable cuts in Red Sea (Seacom, EIG, AAE1) remain unrepaired.
Roberts also reported unrepaired cuts in three additional
submarine cables in the Red Sea, further exacerbating the outage.
Major telcos affected
The outage affected major internet service providers across
the region, including Airtel and MTN. Users in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi,
Mozambique, and Madagascar reported disruptions.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of the region’s
internet infrastructure, which relies heavily on a network of undersea cables.
Roberts ruled out sabotage, suggesting it was an unfortunate coincidence.
He noted that alternative cables connecting East Africa to
Europe could gradually restore service as data is rerouted, but the loss of the
vital EASSy link to data centres in South Africa would have a significant
impact.
This is the second major internet outage to hit Africa in
recent months, following a similar incident in March 2024.
Repeated disruptions highlight the dependence of the
internet on submarine cables, which carry over 90% of intercontinental data
traffic.
Efforts are underway to repair the damaged cables and fully
restore internet connectivity in the region.