Internet service providers across East Africa have reported outages and delays in their data networks since Sunday due to damaged submarine cables, in the third such incident this year.
- According to connectivity-tracking website, Cloudflare Radar, internet outages in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar were severely affected because their traffic volume declined to 30%.
- Other countries in the region that also experienced slow internet connectivity include Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
- According to expert reports, the network interruption occurred because cables running under the sea from South Africa to East Africa – the EASSy and Seacom cables – were cut.
According to Liquid Telecom’s Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Ben Roberts, the 10,000-kilometer cable, EASSy, and the 17,000-kilometer cable Seacom – both showed faults, cutting all sub-sea capacity between the two regions. Meanwhile, Seacom, EIG, AAE1 cables in the Red Sea affected earlier in the year remain unrepaired, as cable repairs are expensive and extensive projects.
“The Authority has established that a deep sea fibre cut [] occurred on the Mtunzini teleport station, affecting a number of submarine cables serving Kenya,” the Communications Authority of Kenya confirmed in a statement late Monday, “The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) cable, which has not been affected by the cut, is currently being utilised for local traffic flow while redundancy on the South Africa route has been activated to minimise the impact.”
Telecommunications services across the region including Safaricom and Airtel in Kenya issued apologies to their customers who realized that interchanging between the networks did not help matters. MTN Rwanda and also Airtel Uganda also acknowledged “intermittent” services.
“We have experienced an outage on one of the undersea cables that deliver internet traffic in and out of the country. We have since activated redundancy measures to minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full restoration of the cable,” Safaricom issued a notice on Sunday evening.
This network interruption is months away from a similar disruption that happened along the West African coast when undersea cables were cut. South Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, Benin, and Burkina Faso experienced low traffic as a result of the cuts which were later resolved. While East Africa remained unaffected at the time, the occurrence spurred conversation about the future of Africa’s internet infrastructure.
Under the Sea or Over the Sky?
Undersea cables provide 95% of the world’s internet needs. Transitioning to alternative forms like Satellite internet remains an expensive affair, even though providers like Seacom expressed interest in diversifying its internet provision infrastructure. Last month, Seacom launched a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite that will buff up data connectivity. Starlink retains the top spot as the main satellite internet provider, despite facing regulation hurdles in some African countries.
However, satellite internet is not invincible. Last week, satellite internet users also experienced outages due to a serious geomagnetic storm that affected orbital infrastructure. The sun, as reported by the U.S government, releases solar flares which affect the earth’s magnetic field causing the storm. A geomagnetic storm can be observed as beautiful aurora lights over the sky, but they cause difficulties to power grids, internet satellites, communication and navigation facilities.
“Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far,” said Starlink CEO Elon Musk on X (formerly Twitter).
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with Communications Authority of Kenya statement.
