Microsoft cloud service suffers slowdown after cable cuts

Microsoft’s cloud service has slowed down after damage to undersea cables in the Red Sea, leaving users in parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle East facing delays and patchy connections.

The tech giant said that its Microsoft Azure users may face increased delays due to multiple undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea.

Traffic passing through the Middle East, either starting in or destined for Asia or Europe, may experience further disruptions, the company said in a service health status update for its Azure platform.

“Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair, so we will continue to monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce the impact on customers in the meantime. We will provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change,” Microsoft said.

As a result of the disruption, Azure — the world’s second-largest cloud provider after Amazon’s AWS — has been forced to reroute traffic through alternate paths, causing higher-than-normal delays.