The digital world was recently rocked by a series of major internet outages in East Africa, leaving millions of users in countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda facing to disastrous connectivity issues. This has highlighted the challenges the region faces in terms of telecommunications infrastructure and reliance on essential undersea cables.
Industry experts, including Ben Roberts, have identified faults in the submarine cables connecting East Africa to the rest of the world via South Africa as the main cause of these outages. These outages have not only disrupted users’ daily lives, but have also had a significant impact on businesses that largely rely on reliable internet connectivity for their operations.
Social media was flooded with outraged reactions from affected users, expressing frustration over the continued errors. Airtel Kenya and Vodacom Tanzania, among other service providers, tried to allay concerns by assuring customers that they were actively working to resolve the issues.
Additionally, data collected by Cloudflare Radar revealed a significant drop in internet traffic in Tanzania, resulting in an impact on key communication channels. The repercussions of these disruptions were felt beyond East Africa’s borders, affecting neighboring countries such as Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.
The message from service providers, despite their desire to resolve the situation quickly, reinforces the idea of the critical importance of a robust and reliable internet infrastructure to support economic activities and communication in East Africa.
In conclusion, these massive internet disruptions in 2024 in East Africa highlight the urgency of investing in more resilient connectivity solutions to meet the growing needs of users and businesses in the region. It is essential that stakeholders work together to identify and resolve barriers to stable and sustainable internet connectivity, in order to drive East Africa’s long-term development and prosperity.