The undersea cable on Thursday negatively impacted on data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire.

According to a statement signed by Reuben Muoka, director, Public Affairs at NCC the cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.

Cable companies – WACs and ACE in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.

Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, EIG, AAE1, are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across on these routes.

In Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries.

Operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored.

They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.

It is important to bring this information to the knowledge of corporate and individual consumers on these services.

Similarly, Angola Cable released a statement titled: ‘Disruption to international submarine cables off the West African coast (WACS, SAT-3, MainOne, ACE)’.

The Angola Cable said whilst the cause of the reported cable breaks off the Cote d’Ivoire of West Africa has not yet been confirmed, it is ensuring that the impact on Angola and other African countries is being minimised by redirecting international data and traffic to the SACS cable, which connects Angola directly to Brazil and from there to the United States and Europe.

“Angola Cables has network backup and restoration solutions available through cables that have not been affected by the faults off the Cote d’Ivoire.

“Our technical team is currently diligently working with industry partners to stabilise international connectivity and to ensure that we can provide support and guarantee the stability of services to African network operators and entities that need it”, the company said.

Techeconomy broke the news following the acknowledgement by Bayobab Group which said that connectivity disruptions faced in parts of West Africa including Nigeria was due to undersea cable damage.

The undersea cable affected the internet connectivity of major Mobile Network Operators in Nigeria and neigbouring West African countries.

A statement by Bayobab Group acknowledged the ongoing disruptions affecting connectivity services in several West African countries, due to breaks in multiple major undersea cables. 

Also, MTN Nigeria released a statement in which the largest telecom company in Nigeria apologized to its subscribers over the network outage.

The statement reads: “We apologise for the challenges you may be experiencing with internet speed and accessing data services at the moment. 

“This is as a result of damage to international undersea cables across East and West Africa. 

“The repair process is ongoing to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Please loot out for further updates”, the statement concludes.”

South Africa has recently grappled with a substantial disruption in its internet connectivity due to the unfortunate damage sustained by two critical undersea communication cables, namely the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and the South Atlantic Telecommunications Cable number three (SAT-3), occurring in the Congo Canyon.

These unforeseen undersea cable failures have reverberated across the region, impacting network operators and internet users alike, resulting in delayed website loading times and potential service interruptions.

Commenting on the development, Matone Ditlhake, Corridor Africa CEO said while these subsea cables largely remain hidden from public view, they serve as essential conduits for global internet connectivity, enabling the rapid transmission of telecommunications signals worldwide, thus facilitating seamless internet access and communication.

“As a direct consequence of these cable outages, South African network operators have grappled with increased strain on their network capacities, leading to heightened traffic volumes and challenges in promptly addressing these issues,” he explains.

Service providers vary in their dependence on the affected cables, leading to discrepancies in the severity of disruptions experienced. Consequently, some entities may encounter more significant impacts than others.

The initial disruption in traffic flow, stemming from the cable damages, is expected to have a particularly notable effect on customers utilising international private leased circuit services.

To counteract these challenges, certain mobile operators have taken proactive steps, including bolstering capacity on unaffected cable routes and conducting traffic engineering to alleviate potential bottlenecks.

Despite these concerted efforts, it’s important to note that websites hosted in the US or Europe may still experience delays or service failures when accessed from South Africa, and vice versa, owing to the reduced international capacity. Internet service providers are diligently labouring to restore full capacity while concurrently embarking on the extensive repair process, which is estimated to span several weeks. 

Currently, the maintenance and repair of these undersea cables are in progress, with the cable ship, the Leon Thevenin, actively engaged in repair operations near Kenya. Weather permitting, we anticipate the cables will be fully restored to operational status by the second week of September.

Corridor Africa Technologies is steadfastly monitoring the situation and working in close cooperation with South African telecommunications companies to minimise the impact of these disruptions and ensure the swift reestablishment of dependable internet connectivity for all users.

“We sincerely appreciate the understanding and patience exhibited by South African internet users during this period of inconvenience. Rest assured, every possible effort is being exerted to expedite the restoration process and enhance internet connectivity throughout the region,” he concludes.

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