Internet Outage Paralyzes West and Southern Africa: Seabed Cable Faults to Blame

In a number of West and South African states, there have been significant internet disruptions caused by problems with undersea data cables. Bayobab, a subsidiary of the South African telecommunications company MTN, reported impairments to connection services due to damage to several key cables below sea level. However, the causes of the damage remain unknown. Significant outages were recorded in the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso, where the internet almost completely went down on Thursday. This is according to data from internet monitoring organization NetBlocks. Eight other nations, including Nigeria, the continent's largest economy, and South Africa, faced moderate to mild restrictions. Hundreds of internet users in South Africa were affected, as reports from the specialist portal MyBroadband explain. Microsoft, one of the world’s largest internet corporations, informed its customers of the outages. The affected fiber optic lines are WACS, MainOne, SAT3, and ACE along the West African coast. These cables, coming from Europe, pass through the Atlantic towards the Gulf of Guinea and largely terminate in South Africa. Africa's connectivity issues are further exacerbated by disruptions in the Red Sea on the continent's east coast, as reported by Microsoft. Cables had been severed there earlier. Submarine lines between Europe and Asia, primarily located near the Horn of Africa, have been compromised following a Houthi attack and the alleged loss of the ship "Rubymar" due to its anchor. In summary, significant internet disruptions are being seen in various parts of Africa, posing both economic and communicative challenges, highlighting the importance of robust and secure undersea infrastructures.