INTERNET TRAFFIC SERIOUSLY DISRUPTED AS CABLE CUT BY ANCHOR
Information is gradually spreading about the seriousness of the current disruptions of internet traffic and the time frame it may require to bring it back to life, after operators, one should say as usual, initially stonewalled and downplayed the extent and failed to reveal the reasons for the disruptions experienced as early as last weekend.
A ship dropping anchor, while waiting to get a berth assigned at the chronically overstretched port of Mombasa, reportedly cut the main cable of TEAMS short for The East African Marine Systems, which provides the bulk of data links to predominantly Kenya but also the hinterland countries of Uganda and Rwanda.
This latest development compounds an already difficult situation after EASSY The East African Submarine System, had experienced a cut of their cable off Djibouti, making extensive re-routing of data and voice traffic necessary. This now leaves the entire traffic jamming into the SEACOM cable network, the third such fibre optic link to the outside world from East Africa, causing substantially reduced speeds and network congestion in the entire region. While the cable repairs off Djibouti are due to be completed within days for the EASSY network the TEAMS cable repair may take as long as 3 weeks to accomplish. Until then, brace yourself for internet disruptions, slow speeds and delayed arrival of e-mails and data transmissions.
