Banks and telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria have been down with internet outages due to damage to international undersea cables supplying them with connectivity.
It was discovered that important subsea cables in the Côte d’Ivoire near Abidjan were damaged, resulting in electricity outages throughout West and South Africa.
Cable Damage Causes Nation-Wide Downtime
Jerrymusa.com reports that Affected cables include SAT3, MainOne, the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), and the West Africa Cable System (WACS).
As a result of the disruption to cyberspace, several bank networks in Nigeria have been down and unable to execute transactions.
Due to this, since Thursday morning, MTN customers and other telecom users have been complaining about their bad data experiences.
In response to complaints from its subscribers over inadequate internet access, MTN has released a statement outlining the reason.
MTN said, “We are sorry for any inconveniences you may be having with internet speed and using data services at this time.”
“Damage to international underwater cables across East and West Africa is the cause of this. The situation is being repaired in order to have it resolved as quickly as feasible. Please keep an eye out for more information.”
According to reports from the local media, South Africa is experiencing a severe internet outage as a result of the cable damage.
Multiple undersea cables operating along Africa’s west coast are experiencing interruptions, according to WIOCC group business development chief Darren Bedford, who was quoted on the South African website My Broadband.
“According to Bedford, there has been no impact on their Equiano cable capacity. On the East Coast EASY cable, WIOCC is also capable.
“Bedford stated that their clients wouldn’t be impacted by the outage because of this redundant capacity.
Additionally, Vodacom, a cellular provider in South Africa, has verified the undersea cable outages.
“South Africa’s network providers, including Vodacom, are currently being impacted by multiple undersea cable failures between South Africa and Europe,” the statement stated.
“This indicates that sporadic connectivity problems are now plaguing a few clients.
“We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your patience as we resolve the problem.”