- By Halimah Olamide
Despite assurances that service would be restored soon, there are fresh indications that the repairs to damaged undersea cables may take another five weeks for complete service restoration.
A report quoting the Voice of America said a meeting between the Ghana’s National Communications Authority with the four subsea cable landing service providers revealed that the damaged subsea cables that are causing internet outages across West and Central Africa are expected to take at least five weeks before completion.
The service providers met by the Ghana’s National Communications Authority are Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, owned by data center operator Equinix (EQIX.O), South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) and the West Africa Cable System (WACS) – and mobile network operators.
Consumers have groaned under very disruptions to service in the last four days leading to disruptions of businesses linked to the internet.
In Nigeria, banking has become hectic, with mobile phone operations, money transfer agencies and stock exchange markets at their lowest operational ebbs.
VOA reported that the service providers had located the approximate location of the damage and had made preparations to dispatch repair vessels.
“The cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five weeks for full service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations,” the regulator said.
MainOne said on Friday a preliminary analysis suggested some form of seismic activity on the seabed had resulted in a break to its cable.