Across Africa, businesses are contending with increasingly unstable digital environments. Governments in several countries have imposed internet shutdowns during elections, protests, or periods of unrest, often crippling essential services like mobile payments, logistics platforms, and cross-border communications. These shutdowns are not only disruptive socially—they impose heavy costs on business continuity, with some estimates placing daily economic losses from blackouts in the tens of millions of dollars. At the same time, fragmented infrastructure and ISP throttling compound these risks, leaving companies without predictable or secure digital access in critical moments.

When Iranian authorities initiated a near-total internet blackout during the 2025 conflict with Israel, the move disrupted far more than public discourse—it paralyzed digital infrastructure across the country.

Cloud-dependent platforms largely went dark, and from financial transactions to logistics, both businesses and millions of people lost the ability to participate in their digital infrastructure.