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East Africa’s Internet connection slowed – Cable damaged
East Africa undersea cables. MAP/The Guardian
Most of East Africa lost access to the internet last week after a ship docked at an illegal spot, damaging the undersea cable that provides broadband internet to most of the sub continent.
The ship docked at Mombasa Port last Saturday, where the undersea fiber-optic cables are laid, with the vessel reportedly dragging its anchor for four kilometres cutting Internet connection in the East African region.
Services have been partially restored in the region, particularly in Kenya. But connectivity in Ethiopia and Uganda remain slow.
The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) cable was laid three years ago and serves a large area of East Africa. It belongs to a consortium of telecoms companies including Safaricom, Jamii Telecom, Wananchi, Essar, Kenya Data Networks, Access Kenya, Telkom Orange and Bandwidth & Cloud Services as well as the Kenyan government.
What has further worsened the situation is that three undersea cables, which experienced disruptions in the past two weeks, had rerouted to the TEAMS cable, meaning they were affected by the severed Kenyan cable.
