Power Cuts, Cable Damage, and Government Shutdowns Behind Q2 Internet Outages (theregister.com) 2
Internet outages spiked during the second quarter of 2025, driven by government-mandated shutdowns, infrastructure failures, and technical glitches, according to Cloudflare's quarterly disruption report.
Government restrictions returned after a quiet first quarter, with Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Panama imposing internet cutoffs for reasons ranging from protest suppression to exam security. A massive power outage on April 28 knocked Spain's internet traffic down 80% and Portugal's by 90%, with service restored around 1 a.m. the following day.
Cable damage caused complete outages for Digicel in Haiti and a 90-minute disruption for Airtel in Malawi. Several major outages went unexplained, including an eight-hour blackout at SkyCable in the Philippines and a nationwide outage at Thai provider TrueMove H, with companies providing no official explanations for the service failures.
Government restrictions returned after a quiet first quarter, with Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Panama imposing internet cutoffs for reasons ranging from protest suppression to exam security. A massive power outage on April 28 knocked Spain's internet traffic down 80% and Portugal's by 90%, with service restored around 1 a.m. the following day.
Cable damage caused complete outages for Digicel in Haiti and a 90-minute disruption for Airtel in Malawi. Several major outages went unexplained, including an eight-hour blackout at SkyCable in the Philippines and a nationwide outage at Thai provider TrueMove H, with companies providing no official explanations for the service failures.
Another: Spectrum in Southern California (Score:2)
Spectrum's fiber optic cables in southern California were recently cut, knocking out Internet and phone service across several very populous counties. It took several hours to repair. It appears the vandalism was caused by thieves thinking the cables contained copper. Copper theft has become a major problem across the U.S., affecting residential plumbing, public street lighting, and electrical service.