For the better part of Tuesday, June 25, 2024, Kenyans were unable to access internet services amidst the Finance Bill protests.
Meanwhile, the challenge in accessing the internet was attributed to an outage along the undersea fibre cables.
However, this incident was different to the disruption that was witnessed in May. The May disruption was caused by an undersea fibre cut.
Despite the two disrupting internet access for Kenyans, there is a difference. So, what is the difference?
Undersea Fibre Cuts
As was witnessed in May, undersea fibre cuts involve physical damage to cables that deliver internet traffic to the country.
In this case, the technicians have to repair the cables to restore the normal delivery of internet traffic. As a result, network companies may be forced to get their supply from other lines as they work on the repairs.
Some causes of the undersea fibre cuts include natural events such as earthquakes, underwater landslides or human activities like fishing.
Most of the causes are attributed to sea activities because the fibre-optic cables are usually laid along the ocean floor.
Outage Along Fibre Cables
On the other hand, an outage in undersea cables, as witnessed on Tuesday and Wednesday simply means reduced internet traffic flow along the cables.
The incident was confirmed by digital company, Seacom, who noted that there was an outage along their cables, with the disruption resolved on Wednesday morning.
The company owns several infrastructures including undersea cables that serve many countries within Africa.
"A few of our corporate customers experienced degradation of their IP/MPLS services(Internet Protocol Multi-Protocol Label Switching) due to capacity lost on a few of the cables through which Seacom powers its corporate customers. The services were back to normal level in the early hours of Wednesday, 26 June," read the statement in part.
Speaking to a network engineer, Brian Muuo, the reduced internet traffic flow makes sites open slowly or inaccessible. This is because there is reduced internet traffic but the number of internet users remains the same.
"On normal occasions, a provider may be pushing 100 gigabits. However, during an outage, they may only be able to push 20 gigabits. So there will be a deficit of 80 gigabits.
"The customers will, therefore, be experiencing losses from their end," the expert stated.
Regarding the causes of the outage along undersea cables, the expert opined that it can caused by several factors including logistical challenges.
"It can be caused by many factors probably logistical issues. The one witnessed recently was mostly for traffic outside the country," the expert noted.
"Access to some sites was easy because they were hosted inside the country.”
Other causes of outages include equipment failures, power outages, or software glitches.
In response to the causes, network companies may be forced to reroute traffic, repair faulty equipment, or address the underlying technical issues causing the disruption.
