Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has directed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to secure alternative routes for their traffic following the current internet disruption experienced in the country.
In a statement released on May 13, the Authority said the directive comes after it received reports on intermittent data outages and traffic jam on the submarine cable Internet traffic flow into the country on May 12.
“The Authority has directed service providers to take proactive steps to secure alternative routes for their traffic and is monitoring the situation closely to ensure that incoming and outbound internet connectivity is available,” the statement read in part.
Among the service providers directed include Safaricom Plc, Telkom Kenya, Airtel Kenya and Jamii Telecommunications Limited.
Upon engaging the relevant industry players, the Communication Authority said it established that a deep-sea fibre cut had occurred on the Mtunzini teleport station in South Africa.
Consequently, this affected a number of submarine cables serving Kenya, including Seacom and the East African Submarine System (Eassy).
Also Read: Safaricom Gives Customers Update on Slow Internet
What to Know About the Submarine Cable
EASSy is a 10,000-kilometre submarine cable system along the east and south coasts of Africa.
It is one of the highest-capacity systems serving the continent, linking South Africa with Sudan through landing points in Mozambique, Madagascar, the Comoros, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti.
Submarine communications cables are laid on the sea and ocean bed that use fibre-optic technology to transmit data such as telephone and internet traffic to provide telecommunications links across the world’s continents.
These cables are therefore the main force powering internet connectivity across the world’s continents and their damage can cause widespread internet outages.
Also Read: Landlords Warned Against Blocking Internet Providers From Their Premises
Communication Authority Says Kenyans to Receive Slow Internet for Some Days
The Communication Authority Director General David Mugonyi further informed individuals and corporate consumers that the Internet intermittent and slow speeds may remain in the coming few days before services are fully restored.
CA however, said the recovery process has since commenced to restore have the internet restored.
“The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) cable, which has not been affected by the cut, is currently being utilised for local traffic flow while redundancy on the South Africa route has been activated to minimize the impact,” Mugonyi said.
Meanwhile, Chris Wood, CEO of Wiocc Group, an investor in the Eassy cable said a cable repair ship based in Cape Town has been mobilized and will sail on Tuesday morning. Transit to the site will take three days,” he said.
“The repair time will be dependent on weather, sea conditions and the extent of the damage.”
Safaricom Gives Update to Users
Safaricom announced that it is continuing to monitor their network and service delivery to customers following the internet service degradation.
To address this, the telco giant said they are pursuing additional capacity with other undersea cable partners to take care of affected bandwidth and working with impacted cable providers for resolution.
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