AshaElmi


Mogadishu, Somalia : Hormuud Telecom has announced that internet services in Somalia have been severely disrupted due to a fault in one of the undersea submarine cables in the Red Sea region. This issue has also affected connectivity in Kenya, Egypt, and Pakistan, leading to a noticeable slowdown in internet speeds.

“A fault has occurred in one of the submarine fiber-optic cables in the Red Sea region, impacting internet services in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, and Pakistan, causing a significant drop in internet speeds,” read a statement from the telecom provider to it’s users.

This announcement follows days of widespread complaints from users across social media, reporting reduced connectivity and slow browsing speeds.

Efforts to Restore Connectivity

Hormuud Telecom reassured its customers that its technical team, in collaboration with international experts, is working swiftly to address the issue and restore full internet services as soon as possible.

“Our technical team, working alongside global experts, is actively addressing the fault to restore services as quickly as possible,” the company stated.

Submarine fiber-optic cables serve as the backbone of global internet infrastructure, carrying vast amounts of data between continents. Major tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta invest heavily in these cables to maintain high-speed and reliable internet connectivity. However, damage to these cables can result in widespread disruptions, as seen during the 2006 Taiwan earthquake, which crippled global communications.

According to CNN, this latest Red Sea cable outage comes weeks after Yemen’s internationally recognized government warned about potential threats posed by Houthi rebels, who might deliberately target undersea cables.

Impact of the Cable Fault and Estimated Repair Time

The Hormuud Telecom statement was issued following reports on March 4, 2025, indicating that the Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable had been severed. The affected segment runs from Egypt to Singapore, specifically within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sudan.

As a result, this fault has caused:

• Slower internet speeds, affecting both browsing and downloads
• Poor video streaming quality, disrupting live services
• VPN connectivity issues, making it difficult to access restricted online platforms

Current reports estimate that full restoration of services may take until mid-April 2025.

This ongoing disruption has once again highlighted the vulnerability of global internet infrastructure, emphasizing the need for diverse connectivity solutions and rapid response mechanisms to mitigate such widespread failures in the future.