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Internet Outages Across Africa Due to Submarine Cable Damage
Thirteen countries in Africa experienced Internet outages recently due to damage to submarine fiber optic cables. Some nations, including Ghana and Nigeria, are still grappling with nationwide connectivity issues.
Severity of Outages
Multiple network providers observed Internet disruptions, with Cloudflare’s Radar tool monitoring the situation. The outage appeared to have started in the northern region of West Africa and progressed southward, affecting all 13 countries involved. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, and Togo experienced nationwide outages, impacting multiple networks in the process.
While some countries faced short-lived disruptions, like Gambia and Guinea with 30-minute outages, others endured longer durations. For instance, South Africa contended with a five-hour outage, and certain countries are still grappling with ongoing issues. As of the latest update, Cloudflare reports that countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire continue to experience connectivity problems.
Timeline of Events
The outage commenced at around 05:00 UTC on Thursday in Guinea, Liberia, and The Gambia. Cloudflare’s data indicates that Côte d’Ivoire faced disruptions from 07:30 UTC that day, followed by Niger in Central Africa at 16:31 UTC.
Causes of Outages
Various sources, including local network providers and the Nigerian Communications Commission, have attributed the outages to damage on multiple undersea cables. Reports suggest that cables like Africa Coast to Europe, MainOne, SAT3, and West Africa Cable System were affected, impacting network capacity across Africa. The precise source of the cable damage remains uncertain.
Microsoft’s Azure status report confirmed disruptions on the West African coast and the Red Sea side, including cable cuts to cables like EIG, Seacom, and AAE-1. Earlier in the month, three undersea fiber cables in the Red Sea incurred damage, impacting a significant portion of Internet traffic in multiple regions.
Previous Incidents and Impact
Undersea cable-related Internet outages are not uncommon, given that these cables handle a vast majority of intercontinental traffic. Such incidents can have far-reaching consequences, as seen with Tonga’s reliance on satellite communication in 2019 for nearly two weeks due to a damaged submarine fiber cable.
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