Internet service disruption: NCC says damaged undersea cables are being repaired

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that the operators of damaged international undersea cables that have caused Internet service disruption in Nigeria and other countries, have begun repair works and are gradually restoring services.

The Commission disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday night by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.

NCC said 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.

Narrating the incident that led to the internet service disruption currently being experienced in Nigeria and some other West African countries, NCC said:

“A combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast, have negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cote de Ivoire, among others.

“The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.

“Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.”

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

READ ALSO: How undersea cable damage causes Internet outage in Nigeria, Ghana, others

Bank customers and telecom subscribers have been bearing the brunt of the internet service disruption as many could not transact businesses on their accounts.

 Telecom data services have become very poor, frustrating many subscribers.

Apologising to its customers over their experience, MTN in a statement issued on Thursday, said:

“We apologize for the challenges you may be experiencing with internet speed and accessing data services at the moment.

“This is as a result of damage to international undersea cables across East & West Africa. The repair process is ongoing to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Please look out for further updates.”

In the banking space, Sterling Bank is one of the banks hit by cable damage as the bank’s network was totally shut down and could not process any transactions. The bank’s app was also not working, thus shutting the customers out completely.