Cut cable interrupts Internet
Dec 13, 2010
THE country yesterday morning experienced a break down in Internet supply attributed to a cut fibre around Egypt.
By David Mugabe
THE country yesterday morning experienced a break down in Internet supply attributed to a cut fibre around Egypt.
Isaac Nsereko, the MTN chief marketing officer, said the telecom firm had re-routed its traffic on another route because of the interruptions caused by the cut fibre on a cable called SMWE3.
The entire industry was affected by the cut fibre.
A communication from MTN said the service provider had experienced an outage on both “our Internet uplinks (TEAMs and EASY).â€
“This is affecting all customers’ browsing/surfing experience, many of whom are experiencing slow speeds,†read the internal communiqué.
EASSY is the largest submarine cable serving sub-Saharan Africa interconnecting nine African countries on the east coast and provides onward connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. It is 10,000km long.
TEAMS is a 5,000km cable, which started from Fujairah in the UAE to Kenya under the Indian Ocean.
Most service providers are now connected to more than one service provider, with satellite serving as back up.
Nsereko said the problem usually happens between Nairobi and Malaba, where the cable that runs underground is often cut.
“Usually its road works or a utility company digging, it is rear that its malicious,†said Nsereko.
UTL spokesperson Mark Kaheru said there was some interruption. “Some of our capacity was affected,†he said.
The bomb explosions that rocked Kampala in July this year also damaged the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (UETCL) pylons, thus breaking supply of bandwidth.
Bandwidth is transmitted through the power lines.
Similar interruptions were reported in August and were linked to the disruption caused by a fault in the SEACOM cable connecting the African continent to Europe and Asia.
Yesterday, operators of a private Internet café on Dewinton Road said their business had been affected for a couple of hours with customers turning away from the service.
THE country yesterday morning experienced a break down in Internet supply attributed to a cut fibre around Egypt.
Isaac Nsereko, the MTN chief marketing officer, said the telecom firm had re-routed its traffic on another route because of the interruptions caused by the cut fibre on a cable called SMWE3.
The entire industry was affected by the cut fibre.
A communication from MTN said the service provider had experienced an outage on both “our Internet uplinks (TEAMs and EASY).â€
“This is affecting all customers’ browsing/surfing experience, many of whom are experiencing slow speeds,†read the internal communiqué.
EASSY is the largest submarine cable serving sub-Saharan Africa interconnecting nine African countries on the east coast and provides onward connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. It is 10,000km long.
TEAMS is a 5,000km cable, which started from Fujairah in the UAE to Kenya under the Indian Ocean.
Most service providers are now connected to more than one service provider, with satellite serving as back up.
Nsereko said the problem usually happens between Nairobi and Malaba, where the cable that runs underground is often cut.
“Usually its road works or a utility company digging, it is rear that its malicious,†said Nsereko.
UTL spokesperson Mark Kaheru said there was some interruption. “Some of our capacity was affected,†he said.
The bomb explosions that rocked Kampala in July this year also damaged the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (UETCL) pylons, thus breaking supply of bandwidth.
Bandwidth is transmitted through the power lines.
Similar interruptions were reported in August and were linked to the disruption caused by a fault in the SEACOM cable connecting the African continent to Europe and Asia.
Yesterday, operators of a private Internet café on Dewinton Road said their business had been affected for a couple of hours with customers turning away from the service.