African Internet Providers Grapple with Service Disruptions Following Submarine Cable Damage

Seacom, a leading South African internet service provider, has alerted its clientele to service interruptions resulting from cuts to the West African Cable System, a vital undersea network.
MainOne, a significant internet provider for Nigerian financial institutions and service providers, has similarly encountered substantial challenges due to a fibre optic cable break in Ghana. This incident has led to the outage of numerous major Nigerian banks, preventing customers from accessing banking apps or utilizing USSD services, as detailed in internal communications from some banks.

Reports from various sources corroborate widespread difficulties in accessing banking apps and experiencing seamless internet usage since Thursday morning. Sterling Bank, among others, has communicated to its customers about online banking hurdles, while Lemfi, an African remittance startup, has acknowledged experiencing service downtime.
Sources with insight into MainOne’s operations hinted that their technical team is actively addressing the issue. However, at this time, MainOne is yet to provide further comment.

Seacom has issued a statement indicating efforts to reroute traffic through alternative channels to alleviate congestion. Nonetheless, services directed towards Europe from Maputo and South Africa remain susceptible should these alternative routes fail.
The impact of Thursday’s internet disruption extends beyond Nigeria, with South African internet users also grappling with slow speeds and unresponsive connections. Vodacom has confirmed multiple subsea cable failures between South Africa and Europe, affecting various network providers.
Furthermore, several other submarine cables across Africa, including AAE1 and EIG, have reported outages.

George Ogunleye