Disruptions to at least three subsea cables off the West Coast of Africa on Thursday have severely impacted internet services in Nigeria, Ghana, and several other countries across the continent.
According to reports from the Associated Press (AP), MTN Group, one of Africa’s leading network providers, attributed the ongoing disruptions to failures in multiple major undersea cables. In response, the South African company stated that its operations were actively working to reroute traffic through alternative network paths.
The repercussions of these disruptions were felt keenly by telecommunications subscribers and bank users, who found themselves stranded for hours as the disruption paralyzed digital transactions and internet communications.
Bloomberg, one of the world’s leading financial news organizations, reported that the West Africa Cable System, MainOne, and ACE sea cables – crucial arteries for telecommunications data – were all affected by the disruptions on Thursday.
Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks, a group that documents internet disruptions worldwide, emphasized the severity of the situation, stating that while network disruptions due to cable damage have occurred in Africa in recent years, the current disruption appears to be amongst the most severe.
NetBlocks further noted significant data transmission disruptions, suggesting a major impact on international transits, likely occurring at or near the subsea network cable landing points. However, the exact cause of the failure remains unclear.
Concerns were raised regarding the potential disruption of essential services, particularly in worst-hit countries like Ivory Coast. Internet analysis firm Cloudflare observed a distinct pattern in the timing of the disruptions, significantly affecting at least ten countries in West Africa, including Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Namibia and Lesotho were also impacted.
Isik Mater from NetBlocks highlighted the compounding impact of such cable failures, as networks attempt to route around the damage, potentially reducing the available capacity for other countries. Mater cautioned that while the initial disruption may stem from a physical cut in the cable, subsequent issues could be of a technical nature, exacerbating the challenges faced by affected nations.
