Internet Disruptions in Q3 2026: Shutdowns, Power Outages, Disasters

Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 Internet disruptions worldwide between July and September 2026. Government-directed shutdowns were the most frequent cause, followed by power outages and natural disasters.

Government-directed shutdowns

Government-directed shutdowns accounted for 19 of the 49 incidents, including 18 exam-related shutdowns in Iraq. Those shutdowns ran from 03:30 to 04:00 UTC, lasted about 15 to 90 minutes, and were mostly between August 26 and September 28, with three between July 1 and July 8. Iraq's Minister of Communication, Mustafa Sanad, confirmed the shutdown and vowed to develop a digital system to end centralized exam distribution. Syria and Sudan did not record similar disruptions this quarter, likely due to exam calendars.

Renewed conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region brought a government-directed shutdown lasting 10 days, with traffic dropping 100 percent and country-level HTTP traffic falling up to 30 percent. On September 19, fiber-optic cable damage in Russia's Far East disrupted connectivity in Chukotka, Magadan Oblast, Kamchatka Krai, and Sakhalin Oblast. Rostelecom described it as deliberate damage to backbone fiber lines and restored service via backup channels; Radar cannot confirm a link to elections.

Power outages and infrastructure failures

Power outages were the second most common cause, with 14 disruptions across 10 countries. Cuba had four power-related outages on July 6, July 14, August 3, and September 18 to 20, with traffic drops from 18 percent to 59 percent. Honduras lost power on September 10 at an interconnection facility, affecting at least 11 providers for about three hours as HTTP traffic fell 63 percent; Telecomunicaciones de Guatemala and Celtel were unaffected.

Ukraine saw an eight-hour blackout in Sevastopol on July 5 with a 98 percent traffic drop, and a ten-hour disruption on August 12 after drone strikes on energy infrastructure caused up to a 95 percent decline. A cooling failure in Phoenix on August 13 caused a near-total drop for Namecheap. Power-related disruptions also hit Eswatini, Botswana, Tajikistan, Kenya, Saint Lucia, Georgia, and Gabon.

Natural disasters

Natural disasters damaged power and telecom infrastructure. Super Typhoon Bavi followed Super Typhoon Sinlaku by less than three months, giving Guam two major storm-related disruptions in one year; winds downed transmission lines and left about 25 percent of feeders online. Japan's magnitude 7.1 quake prompted evacuations of roughly 150,000 people in Kumamoto, mainly affecting desktop traffic.

Colombia's magnitude 7.4 August earthquake caused a four-and-a-half-day disruption and a major drop for Colombia Telecomunicaciones. Nepal's August 26 flash floods caused a two-hour outage with HTTP traffic down up to 18 percent.

Network outages and recovery

Radar also saw single-network outages in Guyana, Portugal, Haiti, Turkey, and Iran. Many were brief: 14 returned to typical levels in under an hour and 16 recovered in less than three hours. Short outages can still affect people during storms, earthquakes, conflict, or unrest. Cloudflare Radar will continue monitoring worldwide.

Sources: Cloudflare