A recent shunt fault on the Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) has left several links offline since Tuesday, causing increased latency for traffic to the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe. Fortunately, the fault has not caused major disruptions to the continent’s internet.

What is EASSy?

EASSy is a 10,000 km submarine cable system along the east coast of Africa, with nine landing stations in eight countries. It’s a consortium cable owned by several telecommunications companies.

What is a shunt fault?

A shunt fault is a type of power feed problem that occurs when the insulation protecting a submarine cable becomes damaged, causing a short circuit from the cable’s metallic core to the seawater.

Causes of damage

Damage can occur from ship anchors, fishing trawlers, backhoe dredgers, powerful ocean currents, or even sea creatures like sharks.

Previous faults

This is the second time EASSy has been hit by a cable fault in three months. In May, a break affected multiple cable systems, taking down all subsea capacity between East Africa and South Africa.

Impact

The fault highlights the importance of submarine cables in connecting Africa to the global internet and the need for robust maintenance and repair systems to minimise disruptions.