Many East African nations experienced internet connectivity disruptions on Sunday, May 12, due to reported faults in the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and SEACOM cables, resulting in widespread outages.
According to monitoring groups such as NetBlocks, the impact was felt across the region, with Tanzania and the French Island of Mayotte experiencing severe disruptions, while Mozambique and Malawi reported moderate impacts.
Cloudflare, another internet service provider, corroborated the ongoing connectivity issues in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar.
In response to the crisis, Safaricom, the largest telecom operator in Kenya, implemented redundancy measures to mitigate service interruptions for its subscribers.
However, despite these efforts, users were warned to expect reduced internet speeds until the full restoration of the affected cables.
This incident follows similar disruptions in March, where West African countries, including Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and South Africa, encountered internet outages.
These disruptions were attributed to damage sustained by four critical sub-sea cables – the West Africa Cable System, MainOne, South Atlantic 3, and ACE cables – along the west coast of Africa, affecting connectivity across the continent.
Chris Wood, the Chief Executive Officer of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company, estimated that the collective repair costs for the affected companies could amount to around $8 million.
He explained that the restoration of a single subsea cable might require between $1 million and $2 million, depending on the extent of the damage incurred.
These incidents highlight the vulnerability of the region’s digital infrastructure and the significant financial implications of such disruptions on telecommunications companies.
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