#TEAMsCablecut: Safaricom and Zuku Suffers Massive Data Outage

Two key data providers in Kenya, Safaricom and Zuku, have suffered massive data outage since Saturday midday due to cable cuts on the TEAMs cable. Safaricom and Zuku reported that there were “cuts on the TEAMS cable, 4.9Km off the coast of Mombasa.” Safaricom is currently re-routing it data traffic through SEACOM but full recovery might take up to 24 hours.

Safaricom has a 20% stake on TEAMs Kenya LTD which in turn owns an 85% stake on the cable while Etisalat of UAE owns the remaining 15%. Wananchi Group, Zuku’s mother company, holds 5% stake on TEAMs Kenya ltd while Orange Kenya has a stake on EASSy cable. A fourth cable, LION 2, is expected to land at the Coast in April according to Minister Sam Phoghisio. The LION2 cable system is owned by France Telecom which has a shareholding on Orange Kenya.

The cut on TEAMS cable might affect the provider until when the problem is solved as the EASSy cable is also down with a cut between  Djibouti and Port Sudan, according to Chris Wood, Chief executive of West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), the consortium that manages the Eassy cable.