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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Telcos and companies lose millions in under-sea fibre cable cuts

Business

By Brian Ngugi | May 14, 2024

**Network cable and optic fibre cable connection.** [iStockphoto]

Kenyan Internet Service providers connected to two undersea fibre optic cables were left counting losses after the cable systems were disrupted on Sunday.

The mess left Internet users countrywide and service providers unconnected for long periods.

Also affected were international voice calls to and from the region and business process outsourcing.

“The incident is attributed to failures affecting the Seacom and EASSy (East African Submarine System) subsea cable systems,” Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said on X, formerly Twitter, referring to submarine communications cables that connect the region.

Services had been restored in Kenya, NetBlocks said but many users reported patchy connectivity. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) said a deep sea fibre cut that occurred at Mtunzini teleport station affected several submarine cables serving Kenya, including Seacom and Eassy.

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“We wish to inform individual and corporate consumers that the recovery process has been commenced but Internet intermittency and slow speeds may remain in the coming few days before services are fully restored,” said CA in a statement signed by its Director General David Mugonyi, yesterday.

The regulator directed service providers to take proactive steps to secure alternative routes for traffic, noting that it is monitoring the situation closely to ensure incoming and outbound internet connectivity is available. CA said the East African Marine Systems (Teams) which has not been affected by the cut is currently being utilised for local traffic flow. At the same time, redundancy on the South African route has been activated to minimise the impact.

Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Safaricom said it had “activated redundancy measures” to minimise the interruption. Safaricom and Airtel acknowledged the outage, and assured customers it was working to minimise disruptions.

“We have since activated redundancy measures to minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full restoration of the cable. “You may, however, experience reduced internet speeds,” Safaricom told its users on X.

Airtel Kenya also confirmed the glitch citing the undersea cable cut which it said “has impacted internet connectivity countrywide.”