Kenya Faces Internet Outage as Submarine Cables Fail

Kenya and the wider East African region experienced heightened internet disruptions on Sunday.

The culprit behind this widespread outage has been traced to two malfunctioning submarine cables located in the Red Sea. Chief Technology Officer Ben Roberts has confirmed that repairs are yet to be completed on the severed cables belonging to three separate cable system providers. The outage impacted all subsea communication channels between East and South Africa. According to Roberts, "Internet accessibility across East Africa is severely hampered."

Faults were identified in both the Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) cable and the Seacom submarine cable, critically, these issues seemingly occurred at the same time. The EASSy cable stretches for 10,000 kilometres along Africa's eastern coast, connecting nine landing stations across various nations including Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa. This crucial infrastructure functions as a backhaul system for at least twelve landlocked countries, ensuring comprehensive internet coverage throughout the East African region.

SEACOM, another submarine cable spanning 17,000 kilometres links South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Djibouti, France, and India. While a confirmed fault was identified on the EASSy cable, the Seacom cable was still under observation for the issue that emerged concurrently. The situation was further compounded by three unrepaired cable cuts in the Red Sea affecting Seacom, EIG, and AAE1 systems. Reports from Tanzania indicate a complete internet blackout in certain areas on Sunday, with other locations experiencing intermittent service access.

Limited internet availability was offered by some service providers; however, the majority of users encountered a complete internet outage. This recent incident is not an isolated occurrence, as East Africa has faced similar challenges in the past. Kenyans were previously warned of a two-month internet disruption in March 2024 due to a separate cable break in the Red Sea. Additionally, another internet outage warning was issued in February 2024 due to a fault within a different cable system.