UAE internet impacted as Microsoft reports multiple subsea cable cuts

Internet services on Etisalat and du networks in the United Arab Emirates were disrupted on Saturday, resulting in slow speeds and intermittent access, as engineers worked to repair cut fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea.

In a status message, Microsoft said users of its Azure cloud system may experience service disruptions on traffic routes through the Middle East.

Service monitor NetBlocks reported outages in multiple countries, including India, Pakistan and the UAE.

⚠️ Confirmed: A series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries including #Pakistan and #India; the incident is attributed to failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 📉 pic.twitter.com/cLsO3cxKbI

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) September 6, 2025

"We do expect higher latency on some traffic that previously traversed through the Middle East. Network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted. We'll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change," Microsoft said.

Azure users may experience increased disruptions when traffic from the Middle East originates in or terminates in Asia or Europe, it added in the service health status update.

"Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair, as such we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime. We'll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change," Microsoft said.

As a result, Azure, the world's second largest cloud provider after Amazon's AWS, rerouted traffic through alternate network paths to minimise disruption.

In statements on X, e& and du both acknowledged their services were experiencing issues, citing the under sea cable cuts.

عملاؤنا الأعزاء، قد تواجهون بطئاً في خدمات البيانات نتيجة انقطاع في الكابلات البحرية الدولية. وتعمل فرقنا الفنية حالياً مع مزودي الخدمة العالميين لمعالجة المشكلة. سنوافيكم بأحدث المستجدات أولاً بأول. نشكركم على تفهمكم وتعاونكم.

— dutweets (@dutweets) September 7, 2025

عملاؤنا الأعزاء، قد تواجهون بطئاً في خدمات البيانات نتيجة انقطاع في الكابلات البحرية الدولية. وتعمل فرقنا الفنية حالياً لمعالجة المشكلة. سنوافيكم بأحدث المستجدات أولاً بأول. نشكركم على تفهّمكم وتعاونكم. pic.twitter.com/XwuGqZTllu

— e& UAE (@eAndUAE) September 7, 2025