- Internet outages in recent days have affected not only businesses but also commercial bank activities
- According to reports, the service disruption is due to an undersea cable that cut in Ghana and disrupted internet across West Africa including Nigeria and neghbouring countries
- This article presents a full list of the African countries affected by the development as Mainone provides details of internet disruption across the African region
Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.
Following the reported failures in multiple subsea cables, the regions of West and Central Africa are experiencing a widespread internet blackout.
On Thursday, March 14, subsea cable providers were affected by major cuts to undersea submarine cables, disrupting internet traffic in major parts of the continent.
As reported by the BBC, the disruption extended to South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Cameroon, and Benin.
The West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3 cables are affected.
Millions of users are anticipated to be affected by this outage, which is projected to extend for several weeks. The disruption has so far impacted businesses significantly and disrupted the daily lives of citizens in the affected areas, regions.
Legit.ng reported the rupture of multiple major undersea cables has caused internet connectivity disruptions in Nigeria and several West African nations. MTN Group and sources within MainOne disclosed this information on Wednesday, March 13.
Nigerian banks have been severely affected by the damaged submarine cables and subscribers of various network operators in the country, leading to internet downtime.
According to BusinessDay, here are the severity levels of affected countries;
- Ivory Coast: Severe
- Liberia: High
- Benin Republic: High
- Ghana: High
- Burkina Faso: High
- Togo: Medium
- Cameroon: Medium
- Gabon: Medium
- Namibia: Medium
- Niger: Medium
- Nigeria: Low
- Lesotho: Low
- South Africa: Low
MainOne gives update on undersea cable repair
Legit.ng reported earlier that MainOne, a company providing digital infrastructure services in West Africa, announced on Friday that it may take an extra two to three weeks for a ship to collect replacement parts for submarine cables and journey from Europe to West Africa.
They stated that an external incident caused the network outage. Initial investigations revealed a cut in their submarine cable system off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean.
The firm said:
“We have a maintenance agreement with Atlantic Cable Maintenance and Repair Agreement (ACMA) to provide repair services for the submarine cable.
“First identify and assign a vessel, the vessel has to retrieve the necessary spares required for repair, and then sail to the fault location to conduct the repair work.
“Next, in order to complete the repair, the affected section of the submarine cable will have to be pulled from the seabed onto the ship where it will be spliced by skilled technicians.”
Source: Legit.ng
