Almost two months after 12 countries in West and Central Africa experienced internet blackouts due to undersea cable disruptions, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya are experiencing the same predicament as other countries in Southern Africa.
Internet access across the East African countries mentioned was disrupted on Sunday, May 12, 2024, due to damaged undersea cables, global web monitor NetBlocks, confirmed.
⚠ Confirmed: Network data show a disruption to internet connectivity in and around multiple East #Africa countries; the incident is attributed to failures affecting the SEACOM and EASSY subsea cable systems 📉 pic.twitter.com/8TsAvKrOe6
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) May 12, 2024
Tanzania and the French Island of Mayotte were highly impacted, while southern African countries like Mozambique and Malawi experienced medium impacts.
“There are ongoing efforts to solve the problem. As they continue to solve the problem, we will have very low access to internet and international voice calls,” Tanzania’s minister of information, communication, and information technology, Nape Nnauye is reported to have said in a statement on Sunday.
Services had been restored in Kenya, NetBlocks said in an update. However, many users reported patchy connectivity.
It is not yet clear how long it would take to fix the situation. When the same thing happened across West Africa a few months back, authorities projected about five weeks minimum for full connectivity to be restored.
