Internet paralysed after damages to sea cables

A NETWORK breakdown rippled across the sub-continent of West Africa last week. This was the result of damages to the MainOne and ACE sea cable - arteries for telecommunications data.

The damages caused connectivity issues for mobile carriers and internet service providers in the region.

A report by Bloomberg showed that internet outages reverberated across West Africa owing to faults in underwater cable lines. This report is according to data from internet analysis firms such as NetBlocks, Kentik, and Cloudflare. The cause of the damage is yet to be determined.

“This is a devastating blow to internet connectivity along the west coast of Africa, which will be operating in a degraded state for weeks to come,” Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis firm Kentik, stated.

NetBlocks, an internet watchdog, disclosed via X, formerly known as Twitter, that 8 West African countries were affected, with Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Benin taking the hardest hit. Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon were also affected.

A month back, three telecommunications cables were severed in the Red Sea. The US and cable industry group, the Internet Cable Protection Committee deduced that the anchor of a cargo ship sunk by Houthi terrorists was the probable culprit.

Additionally, the Hong Kong-based service provider HGC Global Communication estimates that 25 percent of the traffic in the area was carried by the damaged cables. It was redirected via several cables, one of which went to Africa's west coast.

Customers who depend on these cables are scrambling for alternative options as a result of the difficulties with the cables on both sides of the continent combined. — Business Insider Africa