Telecommunications companies in Kenya have come out to explain slowed internet connections in the Eastern African region which started over the weekend.
Internet users in Kenya and East Africa have been experiencing intermittent internet connections since Sunday, May 12, 2024.
In a statement on Sunday, May 12, 2024, Airtel Kenya revealed that there had been an undersea cable cut which has impacted internet connectivity countrywide.
“You may experience intermittent connectivity or reduced speeds as we await full restoration. However, we have taken the necessary steps to minimize the impact. Kindly bear with us as we work with our partners to restore full services. Thank you in advance for your patience,” Airtel Kenya stated.
On Monday, Telkom Kenya also explained the outage, corroborating Airtel’s explanation on deep see cable cuts.
“Internet traffic into and out of the country has been impacted due to cable cuts deep in the sea.
While you may experience intermittent service provision during this time, Telkom has put in place mitigation measures to minimise this disruption and keep you connected. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work with our partners to restore optimal service provision as soon as possible,” Telkom Kenya stated.
K24 Digital understands that the cable break happened 42 kilometres from the Mtunzini Cable Landing Station, a pivotal landing point for the South Africa Far East (SAFE) and Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) cables.
According to Ben Roberts, the Chief Technology and Information Officer at Liquid Telecom, all sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa was down as of Sunday 2 pm.
“It’s me again. Internet to East Africa is severely impaired. All sub-sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down. EASSy Cable – Fault confirmed Seacom Cable – Observing Fault that occurred at same time. 3 cable cuts in Red Sea (Seacom, EIG, AAE1) remain unrepaired,” Roberts stated on Twitter.
Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) is a 10,000km submarine cable system along the east coast of Africa, with 9 landing stations in Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa.
Starlink internet
Starlink users were not spared either, with CEO and founder Elon Musk confirming that the network was hit by a major geomagnetic storm causing slowed speeds.
“Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far,” Musk stated.
The internet service providers say technicians are on-site to restore normalcy.
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