With almost every aspect of life depending on internet these days, any glitch brings inconvenience to users.
Thursday’s internet disruption came as a huge loss to Rashid Abdul Rauf, a bolt driver in Kumasi.
His hope of having a productive workday was dashed as his operation relies solely on the internet.
“Our work is online, so if there is internet disruption, then we can’t operate. Yesterday’s internet glitch made it impossible for me to get any sales because there was no ride request. Now, i just sit at home waiting for a customer to call me offline else, I can’t move. Even if a customer calls and you drop him at a destination, you have to return empty. It’s really tough”, Rashid said.
The internet cut did not only affect operations of ride-hailing vehicles but health care delivery too.
At Anwiam hospital, verification of National Health Insurance cards caused undue delays to patients.
Other administrative work was also not spared.
“I was supposed to send National Health Insurance claims for reimbursement, but the internet outage did not make it possible. Even for laboratory results that we receive from outside labs, we had to drive all the way to get them because the internet was not accessible”, Kwabena Boamah, administrator of the hospital explained.
The National Communication Authority reported that multiple undersea cable disruptions were responsible for the outage.
An IT consultant, Samuel Adomako wants Ghana to try other alternative means of accessing internet rather than relying only on optical cables.
“In the near future, we should look at possible means of connecting to the internet rather than relying solely on optical cables. We have a future if Li-Fi which will help us transmit data with the use of light rays”, he suggested
The internet disruption was reported not only in Ghana, but many African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and others.
Until the internet service is restored, jobs that require internet services to function or thrive will continuously suffer.