KUALA LUMPUR: Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, one of the world’s largest cloud platforms, faced disruption over the weekend after a series of undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea impacted internet traffic moving through the Middle East.
Microsoft confirmed that users may experience slower connections and higher latency, although it stressed that traffic not passing through the Middle East remains unaffected.
“Azure traffic going through the Middle East may experience increased latency due to undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea,” Microsoft said in a weekend update, adding that it has rerouted traffic through alternative paths.
Widespread regional impact
Reports suggested that the cable damage has already affected internet services in the United Arab Emirates and several Asian countries.
NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, said connectivity issues were observed in multiple markets, including India and Pakistan. The Pakistan Telecommunication Company confirmed that cuts occurred in waters near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, warning of possible slowdowns during peak hours.
Undersea cables, often described as the backbone of the internet, transmit massive volumes of data between continents. Damage can occur accidentally, such as from ship anchors, but cables have also been deliberately targeted in the past.
Rising concerns over sabotage
The latest incident follows similar disruptions in February 2024, when several Red Sea cables were cut, affecting internet traffic between Asia and Europe. That occurred shortly after Yemen’s internationally recognised government accused the Houthi movement of plotting to sabotage cables and attack ships in the region. The Houthis denied the allegations.
Elsewhere, in the Baltic Sea, undersea cables and gas pipelines have suffered suspected attacks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Earlier this year, Swedish authorities seized a ship believed to have damaged a cable to Latvia, with investigators pointing to possible sabotage.
The disruption highlights the geopolitical vulnerabilities of global digital infrastructure, where a single fault line in undersea networks can ripple across continents and disrupt critical cloud services.
