Google Cloud services experienced intermittent network disruptions across parts of India on Wednesday after a fire at a third-party data centre triggered an emergency shutdown of critical networking equipment.
According to Google Cloud, the incident resulted in a temporary reduction in network capacity after emergency protocols required power to be shut down at the affected facility. The outage isolated a local point of presence in Delhi, impacting network traffic and causing elevated latency for customers in several major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and surrounding regions.
The company stated that the disruption affected some customers who rely on Google Cloud’s infrastructure for hosting applications, managing data, and running cloud-based services. Businesses and users experienced slower response times and intermittent connectivity issues as network traffic was rerouted through alternative pathways.
Google Cloud has not disclosed the exact time of the fire, nor has it confirmed whether there was any property damage or injuries associated with the incident.
The company indicated that there was no immediate workaround available while engineers worked to restore normal operations. Additional traffic mitigation measures were being explored to minimize the impact on customers and accelerate service recovery.
Google Cloud is one of the world’s leading cloud-computing platforms and competes with major providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Its infrastructure supports thousands of businesses globally, providing services for data storage, application hosting, analytics, and artificial intelligence.
Industry experts note that incidents affecting major cloud providers can have widespread consequences, as many organizations depend on cloud infrastructure to support websites, mobile applications, financial systems, communications platforms, and business operations. Even localized disruptions can lead to service delays and performance issues across multiple sectors.
Google Cloud said restoration efforts were ongoing and that it would continue monitoring the situation while working to fully restore network capacity.
The incident highlights the growing importance of resilient digital infrastructure and the challenges cloud providers face in maintaining uninterrupted service in the event of unexpected emergencies.