East Africa hit by slow internet speeds after sub-sea fibre cut

Internet users in East Africa were on Sunday hit by slow internet speeds after a major sub-sea fibre cut that caused an internet outage in the region.

Several internet service providers (ISPs) in East Africa and South Africa suffered outages following the submarine cable cut.

Network providers said they were working on restoring a stable internet connection, among them the regional telecoms giant Safaricom, whose wi-fi and cellular internet users complained of unusually slow speeds on social media.

“We have experienced an outage on one of the undersea cables that deliver internet traffic in and out of the country. We have since activated redundancy measures to minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full restoration of the cable,” Safaricom said in a notice in the evening.

Liquid Telecom's Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Ben Roberts, also reported faults in the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the Seacom cables.

“All sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down. EASSy Cable - fault confirmed. Seacom Cable - observing fault that occurred at the same time,” he said in a social media post.

He added that two other key submarine cables in the Red Sea; EIG and AAE1, also had unrepaired cuts.