A major undersea cable disruption in the Red Sea has triggered widespread internet slowdowns across the UAE and several parts of the Middle East since Saturday, September 6, 2025. UAE telecom providers du and Etisalat (e&) confirmed the issue, which has also impacted Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, leading to latency in network services. While providers are working on alternate routing and mitigation, full restoration could take time.
New disruption in Red Sea impacts regional connectivity
On Saturday, September 6, a series of cable outages in the Red Sea severely disrupted internet infrastructure relied upon by multiple Middle Eastern countries, including the UAE. The incident, which began at 5:45 UTC (9:45am UAE time), has been confirmed by Microsoft and regional telecom providers as a result of undersea fibre cuts. Microsoft, which operates Azure, the world’s second-largest cloud computing platform after Amazon Web Services—reported increased latency in traffic routes traversing the Middle East. Although the company rerouted network traffic via alternate paths to avoid a full outage, users have still experienced a noticeable slowdown.“Network traffic is not interrupted as Microsoft has rerouted traffic through alternate network paths. However, we do expect higher latency on some traffic that previously traversed through the Middle East,” Microsoft said in a statement on its website. Microsoft committed to providing daily updates, or sooner if conditions change, and clarified that traffic not routed through the Middle East remains unaffected.
UAE telecom providers confirm slowed services
Telecom operators e& (Etisalat) and du, the two main service providers in the UAE, acknowledged the impact of the Red Sea cable cuts on their services. Etisalat, in a public statement issued via social media on Sunday, said:“Dear valued customers, you may experience slowness in data services due to an interruption in the international submarine cables. Our technical teams are currently working to address the issue. We will keep you updated with the latest developments as they occur.” du released a similar message, saying: “Dear Valued Customers, You may experience some slowness in our data services due to an International submarine cable cut. Our technical teams are working with international providers to resolve the issue. We will keep you updated with the latest developments.”Both operators assured customers that restoration efforts are underway, although specific timelines were not provided. Between 6pm on Saturday, September 6 and 3am on Sunday, September 7, users across both networks reported major slowdowns or complete unavailability of internet services, according to data from Downdetector.
Regional scale of the disruption and technical context
The effect of the outage extended well beyond the UAE, with slowdowns also reported in countries such as India and across the wider Middle East. According to NetBlocks, a global internet observatory tracking cyber infrastructure:“A series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries… the incident is attributed to failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah.” The SMW4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) and IMEWE cables are among the major subsea systems that handle vast amounts of internet traffic between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Their disruption left a significant portion of regional traffic needing rerouting. NetBlocks also noted visible slowdowns across both du and Etisalat networks on Saturday evening, with intermittent access and poor speeds experienced by users. While Microsoft Azure managed to avoid complete disruption by activating alternate routes, the rerouting has still led to noticeable lag and service degradation in data-intensive applications and cloud-based platforms.
Causes, risks, and timeline for recovery
While the exact cause of the cable damage remains unclear, historical data shows that around 70% of undersea cable incidents are caused by ship anchors, accidental rather than deliberate. Nonetheless, there have been ongoing fears about the vulnerability of cables in the Red Sea, particularly with the Houthi conflict in Yemen. Although the group has denied targeting cables, the region remains geopolitically sensitive. Subsea cable repairs are logistically complex and can take several weeks, involving the deployment of specialised ships and crews to locate and mend the damage.As of Sunday morning, September 7, some services in the UAE showed signs of improvement, although user reports on DownDetector.ae indicated continued instability. Neither the UAE government nor regulators have issued formal statements on the incident as of now.
