Shutdowns, power outages, and conflict: a review of Q1 2026 Internet disruptions
Q1 2026 saw a sharp increase in major Internet disruptions, especially government-directed shutdowns in Uganda, Iran, and the Republic of Congo. Power failures, military attacks, severe weather, cable damage, and technical problems also caused significant regional outages. The disruptions demonstrate how connectivity remains vulnerable to political decisions, conflict, infrastructure failures, and environmental events. ## Government-Directed Shutdowns ### Uganda’s Election Shutdown - Authorities ordered a nationwide shutdown ahead of the January 15 presidential election. - Public Internet access was suspended from January 13 through January 17, when partial service resumed after President Yoweri Museveni’s reelection was announced. - Traffic at the Uganda Internet Exchange Point fell from roughly 72 Gbps to 1 Gbps. - Full restoration was announced on January 26. - The shutdown was justified as a measure against misinformation, electoral fraud, and related risks. - It prompted lawsuits and criticism from digital rights groups, particularly because Uganda had also restricted connectivity during the 2021 election. ### Iran’s Prolonged Disruptions - Iran experienced two nationwide shutdowns during the quarter. - The first began January 8 and kept traffic near zero for much of the month, with only brief and limited restorations. - A sharp loss of announced IPv6 address space preceded the first traffic collapse, but IPv4 announcements remained relatively stable. This suggests filtering, rather than widespread route withdrawal, was the primary mechanism. - A second shutdown began February 28 as military strikes intensified. - Traffic fell below 1% of normal levels, while small amounts of Web and DNS traffic continued. - Continued IP announcements and limited connectivity support reports of aggressive filtering, including whitelist-based access and restricted “white SIM cards.” - Iran remained largely offline through the end of Q1, making the disruption one of the longest observed in recent years. ### Republic of Congo’s Election Disruption - Internet traffic dropped to near zero around March 15, during the country’s presidential election. - The outage lasted approximately 60 hours before service rapidly recovered on March 17. - Authorities did not provide an official explanation. - Similar election-related shutdowns had occurred in 2016 and 2021. ## Military Action and Infrastructure Damage ### Power-Related Outages in Ukraine - Russian attacks on energy infrastructure caused major connectivity declines in Dnipropetrovsk on January 7–8. - Regional traffic fell nearly 50% before recovering as electricity was restored. - A January 26 drone and missile attack on Kharkiv’s energy infrastructure caused another approximately 50% traffic reduction. - Connectivity gradually recovered on January 27. ### AWS Facilities in the Middle East - Drone strikes damaged Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. - Two UAE facilities in the me-central-1 region were directly hit. - A Bahrain facility in the me-south-1 region was taken offline after nearby damage. - The incident illustrated that military conflict can affect not only consumer connectivity but also hyperscaler cloud infrastructure. ## Other Causes of Disruption - Cuba experienced three separate collapses of its national electrical grid, causing Internet outages. - Severe weather disrupted connectivity in Portugal. - Cable damage affected service in the Republic of Congo. - Verizon Wireless experienced a technical problem in the United States. - Brief, unexplained disruptions affected providers in Guinea and the United Kingdom. The quarter’s events show that Internet outages increasingly arise from a combination of intentional shutdowns, physical infrastructure damage, power instability, and conflict. Monitoring traffic, routing announcements, and regional infrastructure remains essential for distinguishing the causes and measuring the impact of these disruptions.
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