AsianFin -- Microsoft on Saturday said customers of its Azure cloud platform experienced higher latency following damage to multiple undersea internet cables in the Red Sea, highlighting the vulnerability of global digital infrastructure to geopolitical tensions.
In a status update, the company said traffic flowing through the Middle East or terminating in Asia and Europe had been affected. Microsoft did not disclose who was responsible for the damage or provide details on the cause.
“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 reported that it was no longer detecting service issues on Azure, though it warned repairs to the subsea network could take time.
Azure was not the only service hit. Internet observatory NetBlocks reported that “a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries,” including India and Pakistan.
The Associated Press noted that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have targeted shipping and infrastructure in the Red Sea as part of a broader campaign to pressure Israel, previously denied responsibility for any cable attacks.
Undersea fiber-optic cables carry more than 95% of intercontinental internet traffic, making them essential to global commerce and communications. Outages or cuts—whether accidental or deliberate—can ripple across multiple continents, impacting everything from cloud services to financial transactions.
The Red Sea has become a flashpoint in recent months, with heightened military and commercial risks amid the conflict in Gaza and broader U.S.-China competition for influence in critical maritime corridors.
While traffic rerouting and redundancy help limit disruptions, analysts say prolonged outages could underscore the fragility of global digital infrastructure in conflict-prone regions.
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