Microsoft Azure services experienced disruption after cuts to undersea fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea affected internet traffic passing through the Middle East. The company said customers whose data travelled through the region could encounter increased latency, although traffic using routes outside the Middle East was not affected. [Source 6936]
Microsoft did not identify the cause of the cable damage. It said it had redirected traffic through alternative network paths, limiting the impact while the affected connections remained unavailable. The disruption involved Azure, one of the world’s major cloud-computing platforms, and primarily resulted in delays rather than a reported global shutdown of the service. [Source 6936]
The incident also coincided with reports of wider internet problems in the United Arab Emirates and several Asian countries. NetBlocks, an organisation that tracks internet connectivity, said multiple cable cuts in the Red Sea had affected services in countries including India and Pakistan. [Source 6936]
Pakistan Telecommunication Company said the cuts occurred in waters near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It warned customers that internet performance could be degraded during periods of peak demand. The available evidence did not establish whether every reported connectivity problem resulted from the same damaged links. [Source 6936]
Subsea cables carry large volumes of digital communications between continents, making them essential infrastructure for cloud platforms, businesses and consumer internet services. When one or more links are severed, network operators can often move data onto other routes. That process can preserve connectivity but create longer transmission paths, congestion and slower response times.
The reason for the Red Sea cuts remained unexplained as of the event date. Undersea communications lines can be damaged accidentally, including by anchors from ships, and they have also been deliberately targeted in previous incidents. No evidence supplied for this event attributed responsibility to a vessel, government or armed group. [Source 6936]
The disruption followed earlier damage to communications infrastructure in the region. In February 2024, several Red Sea cables were cut, affecting internet traffic between Asia and Europe. Before that episode, Yemen’s internationally recognised government had warned that the Iran-backed Houthi movement might attack cables as well as shipping. The Houthis denied targeting the links. [Source 6936]
Damage to subsea infrastructure has also drawn scrutiny elsewhere. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea have been damaged in incidents suspected of being attacks. In a separate case earlier in 2025, Swedish authorities seized a ship suspected of damaging a cable between Sweden and Latvia, and prosecutors said their initial inquiry pointed toward sabotage. Those cases provide context for the vulnerability of seabed infrastructure but do not establish the cause of the Red Sea incident. [Source 6936]
Microsoft’s ability to reroute Azure traffic demonstrated the redundancy built into international networks, while the reported delays showed how damage at a strategic maritime corridor can still affect users across multiple countries.
