Undersea cable breakages are causing widespread internet disruptions in nations in Southern, Eastern, and West Africa.
Major Internet Outages Hit South, East, and West Africa
Dimension Data notified its South African clientele earlier today that the West Africa Cable System experienced a cable breakdown. Consequently, the company said it had redirected traffic through the now-saturated Seacom line.
Seacom’s underwater cable is also damaged, and the business issued a warning last week that repairs in the Red Sea would take longer than anticipated due to the potential eight-week wait for authorization to maintain affected regions.
Additionally, Microsoft said on X (previously Twitter) that it is looking into what caused an outage that prevented some customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe from using any of the Microsoft 365 services.
Persistent Outages in Several Key Underwater Cables
Reports of the impacted services are primarily coming from Kenya, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The Bayobab Group also reported that persistent outages in numerous key underwater cables are causing interruptions to connectivity services in many West African nations.
In a statement, the business stated that it is attempting to lessen the effect on its clients in the impacted nations.
“Our operations are actively working to reroute traffic through alternative network paths and engaging with our consortium partners to expedite the repair process for the damaged cables,” reads the statement.
It added: “We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work diligently to resolve this situation.”
Underwater Cables Were Severed
According to a recent Associated Press story, three underwater cables were severed as a result of a sinking ship that was assaulted by Houthi rebels from Yemen who were active in the region.
Seacom reports that the outage impacted a section of cable that connects Mombasa, Kenya, to Zafarana, Egypt.
When discussing the damage to the Red Sea’s underwater cables, Dr. Thomas King, CTO of worldwide internet exchange DE-CIX, reaffirmed this.
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