The Executive Director for the Centre for Maritime Law and Security, Dr. Kamal-Deen Ali, has emphasised the importance of the country having a robust plan to reduce the over-reliance on submarine cables for data transfer.
His comments follow the reported undersea cable cut, which has resulted in widespread internet disruptions in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and some parts of Europe, including Portugal.
In an interview with Alfred Ocansey, host of TV3’s Ghana Tonight programme on Friday, March 15, Dr. Kamal-Deen Ali stated that there must be “thorough discussions on the disruptions” that can happen to submarine cables to inform future action.
He noted that “disruptions such as this do happen from time to time,” stressing that “as a country, we must have a very robust contingency plan to deal with such disruptions when they happen.”
According to the maritime security expert, there are clear indications that the country does not have any plan to address the issue of the internet blackout, which has lasted close to 48 hours since the incident occurred.
“So far, we have done 24 into 48 hours and counting and what you see is that there is not a clear indication that such a robust response system has been deployed so that is an important place to look at,” Dr. Ali added.
He further underscored that there was a communication gap following the incident. He indicated that it took a while for people to get some information on the disruption.
He said, “You’d realised that we actually had a time-lapse when the disruption started. And it took some time for some level of information started emerging as to what is happening and explanations being deployed.”
“So the communication, for example, there was some gap until we had some level of communication,” he stated.
Background
All mobile and fixed data services went down nationwide in the early hours of Thursday, March 14.
The National Communications Authority(NCA), in a statement, said, “The disruptions affecting multiple undersea cables responsible for carrying international traffic have occurred in Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire and with some disruptions in Portugal. This has led to a significant degradation of data services across the country.”
“It is important to note that the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are working around the clock to restore full services. In addition, the MNOs have informed affected customers of the disruptions via various channels.
“The Authority is monitoring the situation and will update the public accordingly,” it added.
Meanwhile, the telecommunications giant MTN Ghana, in a separate statement, has apologised to its clients for the interruptions being experienced owing to the undersea cable disruptions.
“MTN apologises for the challenges our customers are experiencing in accessing data services and reaching our call center.
Furthermore, the NCA, in its update number two, noted that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are running on minimal data capacity.