Microsoft reported on Saturday that its Azure cloud platform experienced latency issues after several undersea cables were cut in the Red Sea, according to Bloomberg.
In a status update, the company explained that traffic flowing through the Middle East, or destined for Asia and Europe, was impacted. Microsoft did not disclose who was responsible for the cuts or the cause behind them.
“Undersea fiber cuts can take time to repair, as such we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimize routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime,” the company said.
By Saturday evening, Microsoft confirmed it was no longer detecting issues on Azure. However, internet observatory NetBlocks noted that the outages had affected more than just Microsoft, citing widespread connectivity degradation across multiple countries, including India and Pakistan.
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The Associated Press reported that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are waging a Red Sea campaign aimed at pressuring Israel, previously denied targeting submarine cables.
This update adds context on the wider regional impact and denials of involvement from Houthi forces.
