Tanzania is facing Internet shortages in the country after two submarine cables were hit by technical issues recently, the country’s regulator said in a statement.
The Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL) CEO Kamugisha Kazaura said that the problems occurred in Egypt’s northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria, “where the cables are connected to others linking the continent to Europe.”
It is unclear exactly what damage was done or how great the impact will be on the country’s Internet services. Small outages have been reported, but it has not reached a detrimental impact as of yet.
He said “the EASSy and Seacom cables are connected to other cables to Europe, and the problem occurred in a stretch eight kilometres offshore from Alexandria.”
Kazaura promised to “seek other alternatives including re-routing the cables to South Africa or Asia.”
In order to safeguard from further cable issues in the future, he said “the country is considering renewing a contract with the operators of another submarine cable, Teams, which is linked through the UAE.”
While most East African countries were affected by the Internet breakdown, Kenya was the least affected as it uses Teams, according to the regulator.
Mohammed Awad
