Power Cuts, Cable Damage, and Government Shutdowns Behind Q2 Internet Outages

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.

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