All data services across some regions on the African continent were disrupted in the early hours of Thursday, March 14, due to an undersea cable cut.
This has brought several activities to a halt, with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) running on minimal data capacity.
According to Ghana’s Communications Authority, the country lost about 1,596.6 Gbps of data capacity owing to multiple undersea cable cuts.
The following African countries are grappling with internet disruptions ranging from severe to high to medium and low impact due to the subsea cable cuts. They are;
- Ivory Coast (Severe)
- Liberia (High)
- Benin (High)
- Ghana (High)
- Burkina Faso (High)
- Togo (Medium)
- Cameroon (Medium)
- Gabon (Medium)
- Namibia (Medium)
- Niger (Medium)
- Nigeria (Low)
- Lesotho (Low)
- South Africa (Low)
The disruption has substantially affected many industries, including banking, healthcare, education, and government services, underscoring the vital role of internet access in everyday life.
Every effort is being made by the authorities in the impacted nations to minimise interruptions and restore internet services.
Though there have been a variety of assumptions, including technological problems and cyberattacks targeting internet infrastructure, the precise cause of the outage is still unknown.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has revealed that the disruption will take at least five weeks for the internet to be fully restored.
In a separate statement dated March 16, the NCA noted that “service providers have remotely identified the approximate locations of the damage and are mobilizing repair vessels to the affected areas.”
This was revealed at a face-to-face meeting by the NCA with top officials from all four (4) subsea cable landing service providers (ACE, MainOne, SAT-3 and WACS); and the three (3) mobile network operators (AT, MTN and Telecel).
The NCA further stressed that MNOs and the subsea cable landing service providers are working tirelessly to restore service, adding, “The subsea cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five (5) weeks for full-service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations.”
Read the full statement below:
Further to our last update, the National Communications Authority (NCA) wishes to inform the public that:
1. The Authority this afternoon held a face-to-face meeting with all four (4) subsea cable landing service providers (ACE, MainOne, SAT-3 and WACS); and the three (3) mobile network operators (AT, MTN and Telecel).
2. The meeting was attended by the top management of the above providers and operators to receive updates and to discuss the way forward.
3. The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and subsea cable landing service providers continue to work with their international partners in the sub-region to progressively add more capacity for data services as it becomes available.
4. The subsea cable landing service providers have remotely identified the approximate locations of the damage and have made preparations to dispatch repair vessels to the location for physical assessment and restoration.
5. Based on the above, the subsea cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five (5) weeks for full-service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations.
6. The NCA recognizes the impact the disruptions have had on economic, academic and social activities and assures the public of its commitment to continue collaborating with relevant stakeholders. We expect some improvement in data services in the coming days while the operators work around the clock to restore full connectivity.
7. The NCA encourages MNOs, Internet Service Providers, and all other providers to actively participate in the operations of the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX) in order to ensure an efficient local content delivery and a seamless Internet traffic exchange locally.
8. New developments will be communicated when available.