Microsoft has confirmed that its Azure cloud platform, one of the world’s biggest, has suffered disruption caused by undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea.
The company said internet traffic moving through the Middle East is being delayed, though most other routes remain unaffected. Microsoft did not give details about how the cables were damaged, but added that traffic had been rerouted.
Cables on the seabed are essential to global communications, carrying vast amounts of data between continents and supporting modern internet services.
The incident follows reports over the weekend of outages affecting the United Arab Emirates and several Asian countries. Monitoring group NetBlocks said the damage had reduced internet access in parts of India and Pakistan.
Pakistan’s state-run telecom company confirmed the disruption, warning that users could face slow connections during peak hours. The company said the cuts occurred near Jeddah, a key port city on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
Cable damage can result from ship anchors or natural causes, but sabotage has been suspected in previous incidents. In February 2024, similar cable cuts in the Red Sea caused major slowdowns between Asia and Europe.
That episode came weeks after Yemen’s government accused Iran-backed Houthi forces of planning attacks on cables, although the group denied involvement.
Elsewhere, suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea has damaged undersea cables and pipelines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Swedish prosecutors earlier this year linked a ship to damage of a Latvia-bound cable.
The latest Red Sea disruption underlines the fragility of global internet infrastructure and its vulnerability to conflict.
