The Weekly Brief, by The Kenyan Wall Street, is a newsletter that goes out to 25k+ subscribers.

Happy Sunday and welcome to this weekend edition to start your week.

The shilling continued its rally this week, closing the week at KShs. 137.49 per US dollar. Remittances are up by 7.5%, and most macroeconomic indicators, including the NSE 25 and the NSE 20 share price indices, increased. This is great news, coming the same week that the energy regulator dropped fuel prices for the March-April period by Kshs. 7.

Undersea cable cuts off the coast of Ivory Coast, and in the Red Sea, disrupted internet connectivity in several countries this week, and repairs are still weeks away.

Undersea Cable Cuts Expose Africa’s Digital Underbelly

Internet connectivity in several African countries was interrupted this week after major undersea cables experienced temporary faults, and repairs may take anywhere between two to six weeks. 

• Netblocks, an internet monitoring company, reported that Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Benin experienced severe outages lasting up to 12 hours from Wednesday.

• The Gambia and Guinea had less severe disruptions as the internet was restored after half an hour.

• The West African Cable System (WACS) and SAT-3 cables off the Abidjan coast faced a downtime. 

African Telecommunications giant, MTN Group, has reported internet outages in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, promising to solve the issue within the shortest time possible. 

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, the cuts happened somewehere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, and there was a disruption in Portugal.

Submarine cables account for 90% of the continent’s internet needs. There are more than 500 active undersea cables around the world. Minor damages have slowed internet connectivity but it is still unclear whether sabotage plays a part in these events.

Likely Reasons

Although it is still unclear what caused the cable cuts, the likeliest reason that seismic activity off the coast of Ivory Coast resulted in a cut cable. This worsened an already dire situation with cut cables on the other side of the continent.

In mid February, escalating Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea included missile attacks on a bulk carrier named the Rubymar. The ship’s hull was damaged on February 18th, forcing the crew to abandon it. It eventually sunk on 3rd March, and analysts believe that it may have been dragging its anchor on the sea floor, damaging the undersea cables.

According to Seacom and other cable operators, repairs will take weeks, and undersea cable operators have been forced to rely on redundancies and reroute internet traffic to other cables. The disruptions have also stimulated discussion on the transition to Satellite internet, which is still costly and unpopular in the continent. They also raise critical questions on the safety of the continent’s digital infrastructure at a time when African countries are moving towards a digital future.

Headlines You Might Have Missed

• Carbacid Investments Plc made a net profit of KShs. 485.2 Million for the six months ended 31^st January 2024, , an increase of 18% from KSh 411.7 Million reported over a similar period in 2023.

• The United States is actively considering a ban on TikTok, which has more than 170 million users in the country, and this is what it means for ByteDance and content creators.

• Against the backdrop of shifting priorities among investors over the last two years, the recent African Pre-seed Podcast Live in Nairobi, Kenya, provided invaluable insights into how to navigate the funding landscape in 2024.

• Dimkes DT Sacco saw its net operating surplus increased by 24% from KSh 100.29 million in 2022 to KSh 124.6 million in 2023.

• Africa Fintech Summit has announced its first roadshow ahead of AFTSNairobi in September. The roadshow will be held on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings on April 17, 2024, in Washington DC.

• 13 artisanal mining sites in Marsabit have been closed due to insecurity.

Government, Airbnb Differ on CCTVs

The government and global short-term rental listing company Airbnb are reading from different scripts on the use of security cameras in the accommodation facilities.

Following the increase in crimes, including at least one unsolved murder, within short-term lease facilities, Cabinet has approved several measures including maintaining CCTV cameras in common areas.

However, in a revised policy issued early this week, Airbnb said it will not allow security cameras inside listings, regardless of their location, purpose or prior disclosure. The order takes effect at the end of next month and affects hosts across the globe.

“Our goal was to create new, clear rules that provide our community with greater clarity about what to expect on Airbnb,” said Airbnb’s Head of Community Policy and Partnerships, Juniper Downs.

The Cabinet resolution now directly differs with the platform’s new rules, which is bound to complicate the process for AirBnB hosts in the country.

Read more.

Upcoming Events

11th East Africa Property Investment Summit: 17-18 April, Nairobi

AmCham Business Summit 2024: 24 April, Nairobi

Nairobi Global Business Expo and Conference: 11 April, Nairobi

Gitex Africa 2024: 29-31 May, Marrakech

Interview of the Week

Web3 in Africa - Insights from Emurgo Africa and Adaverse CEO Shogo Ishida

Have a great week!