Kenya Internet Chaos: Two Major ISPs Suffer Mysterious Blackout Amid Protest Tensions

If you were among the many Kenyans struggling to connect to the internet on Friday, July 18, you weren’t alone, and now, there’s an explanation. 

A widespread internet outage rocked Kenya as two of the country’s largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) went down, sparking confusion, frustration, and even concern about possible state interference. 

The alarming disruption, now confirmed by global internet watchdog NetBlocks, left many Kenyans disconnected from the digital world for days. 

In a statement released on Friday, NetBlocks revealed that the outage wasn’t just a glitch, it was a major nationwide connectivity failure. Their real-time data showed that one of the affected ISPs suffered a complete blackout, while the other experienced a sharp connectivity decline from nearly 100% to just 59%. 

And it didn’t start on Friday. According to NetBlocks, instability had been building throughout the week, with one provider’s signal dancing unpredictably between 60% and near-full capacity before falling off a cliff to zero. 

The timing of the outage raised eyebrows, especially since it came on the heels of recent mass protests in Kenya, including the widely covered June 25 and Saba Saba demonstrations.  

Those events had already raised fears of government-led internet restrictions, particularly on platforms like Telegram, which activists and citizens have relied on for organizing and information sharing. 

While no official explanation has been given, and NetBlocks confirmed that the ISPs themselves remain silent, early reports suggest the problem was internal, possibly a technical issue rather than a deliberate internet blackout. 

 This theory gained traction after users of one of the affected providers reported restored service by Saturday morning, suggesting partial resolution. 

Still, the blackout rekindled public fears over freedom of information, digital rights, and the growing weaponization of internet access during moments of political unrest. 

In an era where access to the internet is not a luxury but a lifeline, connecting people to business, education, news, and activism, such an unexplained outage is more than inconvenient; it’s a national alarm bell. 

As of now, Kenyans are demanding answers, and with NetBlocks’ report circulating widely, pressure is mounting on the affected ISPs to come clean.