The Nigerian Communications Commission has explained the Thursday break down in Internet access across countries in the West African region and some European countries as due to underwater cable disruption.
According to Director, Public Affairs of the Commission, Reuben Muoka on Thursday, a combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast, negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, among others.
The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal on Thursday.
Cable companies: West African Cable System and African Coast to Europe 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, Europe India Gateway and Asia-Africa-Europe 1, are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across on these routes.
This development was confirmed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Nigeria Communications Commission, Dr. Reuben Muoka, in a statement on Thursday.
He explained further, “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.”
