Microsoft’s cloud service, Azure, has slowed down after undersea cable damage in the Red Sea, causing users in parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to experience delays and unstable connections.
The company confirmed that Microsoft Azure users may see increased latency due to multiple undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea.
Traffic passing through the Middle East, whether originating from or destined for Asia or Europe, could face further disruptions, according to Microsoft’s 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 Web Services (AWS) — has rerouted traffic through alternative paths, leading to higher-than-normal delays for users.
This slowdown highlights the vulnerability of global cloud services to undersea infrastructure issues, emphasizing the importance of efficient routing and quick recovery strategies for large-scale cloud platforms.
