Undersea cable failures cause internet outages across Africa

Widespread internet outages have hit multiple African countries, with the cause presumed to be undersea cable failures.

Many people living in countries across Africa woke up this morning to no internet. The disruption is believed to be due to multiple undersea cable failures in the region.

Based on data from Cloudflare Radar, which reports real-time global internet trends, 11 African countries were impacted, from The Gambia to Ivory Coast, including a major network in South Africa (Vodacom).

The data showed a pattern of disruptions from the north to the south of West Africa starting in the south of Senegal at around 05:00 UTC.

A recent post by Cloudflare Radar on X (formerly Twitter) said that the disruptions are still ongoing in many countries. 

News outlets in these countries are reporting that citizens are unable to access basic internet and social media. International banking is also affected, as are international voice calls.

According to Cloudflare Radar, reports from several local networks, including South Africa’s Vodacom, MTN in Nigeria, and Celtiis in Benin, reference multiple submarine cable failures. 

Microsoft said on its Microsoft Azure cloud platform status page: “We have determined that multiple fibre cables on the West Coast of Africa – WACS, MainOne, SAT3, ACE – have been impacted which reduced total capacity supporting our regions in South Africa. In addition to these cable impacts, the on-going cable cuts in the Red Sea – EIG, Seacom, AAE-1 – are also impacting capacity on the East Coast of Africa. This combination of incidents has impacted all Africa capacity – including other Cloud providers and public Internet as well.”

According to Cloudflare Radar, these disruptions serve as a reminder of how dependent the internet is on submarine cables, which are estimated to carry over 90% of intercontinental data traffic.

Earlier this month, three underwater data cables in the Red Sea were cut as Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to target the waterway. The severed lines are affecting 25% of the traffic flowing through the Red Sea from Asia to Europe.