Undersea Cable Cuts Disrupts Data, Voice Services Along African West Coast-NCC

Maryam Aminu

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given reasons in respect to disruption noticed lately in the usage of data, voice Services, bank codes and apps

The Commission disclosed this in a statement signed and made available to journalists on Thursday by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.

According to the statement,
combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast have negatively impacted on data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire among others

He noted that the West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) have experienced faults on the West Coast route from Europe, while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.

He stated further that undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across these routes.

“In Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries.” He added

While disclosing that operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored, he added that the cable operators have also promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.

The Commission urged Consumers, both corporate and individual to be aware of these service disruptions