The Truth About the Widespread Internet Outages Hit East Africa

Mombasa, Kenya- Residents across East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda, are experiencing significant disruptions in internet connectivity, prompting complaints about poor service and calls for swift resolutions from service providers.

The disruptions have been traced back to faults in under-sea cables, which are crucial for connecting the region to global networks through South Africa.

Industry expert Ben Roberts, speaking to the BBC, confirmed that the primary issue involved damage to the Eassy cable, a key component in the region’s internet infrastructure located approximately 45km north of Durban, South Africa.

This has resulted in substantial internet outages across the area, with Tanzania reported to be one of the worst affected, experiencing internet traffic at just 30% of normal levels.

Service providers such as Airtel Kenya, Vodacom Tanzania, and others across the region have acknowledged the disruptions.

They are asking for patience from subscribers as they work with international teams to repair the damages. Cloudflare Radar noted that the connectivity issues are not isolated, with countries like Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar also experiencing problems.

This incident marks the second major disruption this year, following similar outages in March that affected various countries across West and Southern Africa. Those outages were also attributed to undersea cable failures, though the exact cause was not determined.

As efforts continue to reroute data through other cables and restore connectivity, the situation highlights the vulnerability of global internet infrastructure and the significant impact such disruptions can have on daily activities and business operations across continents.