Subsea cable disruption impacts Kenya and Egypt; Seacom working on resolution

Seacom, a provider of telecommunications and subsea cable, is facing a disruption in the Red Sea region where a subsea cable system has been out for more than 48 hours. This incident affects the connectivity linking Africa and Europe, notably impacting clients situated in the Eastern and Southern part of Africa.

The cause of this interruption that transpired on Saturday, February 24, 2024, and impacting nearby cables, has not been established by Seacom. They are, however, working together with a partner responsible for cable repairs to assess the viability of repairing the damaged cable.

According to Seacom, the disruption is limited only to a part of the cable system, stretching from Mombasa, Kenya to Zafarana, Egypt. This incident occurred just three weeks following the warning issued by Yemeni telecommunications companies regarding potential sabotage of the Red Sea’s submarine cable network by Houthi rebels.

A leading service provider in communication and cloud solutions, Seacom boasts ownership of one of the biggest ICT data infrastructures in Africa. Remarkably, Seacom controls around a quarter of the wholesale fibre market in the region and supports the traffic of Internet data from South Africa towards Europe.

Viewed as an industry forerunner in terms of data network connectivity and broadband, the company claims credit for establishing Africa’s primary broadband submarine cable system in 2009, benefiting East and South Africa. In the current times, the importance of subsea cables is undeniable given the rising demand for high-quality connectivity. The Red Sea, in particular, is home to several major intercontinental subsea cables.

Despite facing a recent outage, Seacom has ensured that transmissions and IP services will carry on via cable connections between Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa. Regarding IP-based services for Europe and other regions, these have been diverted through the Equiano, PEACE, and WACS cable systems, according to Seacom.

While the company is focusing on rectifying the situation, it seeks to assure that its clients remain functional, albeit with slight latency issues in their internet communications. Additionally, it has conveyed that it will keep its clients posted about the timelines for reinstating the systems.

Before the occurrence of the outage, Seacom had issued an alert in early February cautioning about potential repair delays in case of any cable system disruption in the Red Sea, due to prevailing instability in the area. Following the outage, Seacom acknowledged, “The geopolitical sensitivity and on-going tensions in the region make it a challenging environment for maintenance and repair operations.”

Despite the current challenges, Seacom is making significant strides in widening its business reach towards East and West Africa by adopting an acquisition strategy.

In the meantime, an internet blackout in Sudan arose as a consequence of a clash between the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan Army, with the blame laid on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The regional instability further added to the postponement of re-establishing the internet connection.