Steve Song’s Post

East African Internet connectivity again impacted by submarine cable cuts   On Sunday, May 12, issues with the ESSAy and Seacom submarine cables again disrupted connectivity to East Africa, impacting a number of countries previously affected by a set of cable cuts that occurred nearly three months earlier. On February 24, three submarine cables that run through the Red Sea were damaged: the Seacom/Tata cable, the Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), and the Europe India Gateway (EIG). It is believed that the cables were cut by the anchor of the Rubymar, a cargo ship that was damaged by a ballistic missile on February 18. These cable cuts reportedly impacted countries in East Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique. As of this writing (May 13), these cables remain unrepaired. Already suffering from reduced capacity due to the February cable cuts, these countries were impacted by a second set of cable cuts that occurred on Sunday, May 12. According to a social media post from Ben Roberts, Group CTIO at Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Kenya, faults on the EASSy and Seacom cables again disrupted connectivity to East Africa, as he noted “All sub sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down.” https://lnkd.in/gezdU2TF

Vietnam Internet Disruptions as Three Submarine Cables Fail Three of Vietnam's five submarine cables failed, severely impacting internet connectivity and access to offshore websites. #aae1 #apg #cablefault #internet #intraasia #submarinecable #telecoms #vietnam https://lnkd.in/e-6GT5u3

Remember when we had 1-2 Megabit (Mb) internet at our homes? Thanks to the AAE-1 and SMW-5 submarine cables that became Ready for Service (RFS) in 2016 and 2017, higher bandwidths started getting cheaper and more accessible. In 2022, the PEACE cable improved latency with some countries, especially France. Now, I am very excited because by the end of 2025, Pakistan will have three new submarine cables. Africa-1 and 2Africa might be RFS by the end of 2024 or Q1 of 2025, and SMW-6 will be RFS by the end of 2025. This will definitely give a huge boost to the internet across the country. We might see average households moving to 50 Mb packages or even 100 Mb. However, it's important to understand that a 2.4 GHz router cannot handle bandwidth above 50 Mb. A 5 GHz router is required, and it will be exciting to see them becoming common in this currently congested 2.4 GHz environment. Crossing the 100 Mb mark will be critical because some local infrastructure (switches, etc.) may still have ports limited to 100 Mb, and upgrading to Gigabit-capable equipment will be necessary to handle higher speeds. Below is a map of the 2Africa submarine cable, the world’s largest subsea cable system, being brought to Pakistan by Transworld Associates, which is already live in some locations.

An insightful assessment of the impact of the submarine cables cut in East and South Africa is available on the Internet Society Pulse platform. https://lnkd.in/gMdbePsb

over 1.3 million kilometers of submarine cables connect continents, allowing for instant communication worldwide (Source: Submarine Cable Map). Read the Complete Article at https://lnkd.in/etJXQw6t #9ledgefeed #9ledgefeedblog #INTERNET #technology #20thcentury

AAE-1 and APG Cable Disruptions Impact Vietnam’s Internet Recent faults in the AAE-1 and APG submarine cables have disrupted Vietnam's international internet connectivity. #aae1 #apg #cablefault #internet #submarinecable #telecoms #vietnam https://lnkd.in/g5G_V2Zi

Always an interesting strategic topic. A great book that dives deeper into the subject is: https://lnkd.in/gu5dqR9U

BLOG: Submarine Cables and the East African Internet – What’s The Story? The past three months have witnessed several submarine cable interruptions across the African continent, resulting degradation the Internet experience of users in multiple countries at different times during this period. Submarine cables are responsible for connecting Africa to the rest of the world using high speed fibre optic infrastructure. https://lnkd.in/eskXd8w5

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has just released "Safeguarding our Subsea Cables" - a report looking at how to safeguard cyber Infrastructure amid Great Power Competition. A few key points: 1️⃣ 95% of international data moves on undersea fibre optic cables. Satellite communications like Starlink are advancing rapidly but is there is no substitute to undersea cables to maintain global communication as we know it. Globally critical infrastructure and particularly important for an island continent like Australia. 2️⃣ ~98% of cables are manufactured and installed by four private firms: in 2021, the U.S. company SubCom, French firm Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), and Japanese firm Nippon Electric Company (NEC) collectively held an 87% market share. China’s HMN Technologies, held another 11%. Repair and maintenance of this network during competition and conflict will depend on the private sector. 3️⃣ Attacking undersea cables are going to feature heavily as we see escalated competition and certainly in combat. In 2023 two submarine cables that supply internet to Taiwan’s Matsu Islands were cut, plunging its 14,000 residents into digital isolation for six weeks. Australia must be ready to respond to cables being cut and build resilience against digital isolation. https://lnkd.in/gWW56_cc 🗺 via Australian Communications and Media Authority https://lnkd.in/g9Vq2-QK