NCC clears the air on phone, internet disruptions, identifies companies affected by undersea cable cuts

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last night, Thursday, March 14, 2024, cleared the air on the disruption of data and voice services in Nigeria and some other countries along the African West Coast.

 

“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, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire, among others.

 

“The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal,” NCC said in a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.

 

Identifying the affected service providers, the commission said: “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.

 

“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.”

 

NCC noted that, “In Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries.

 

Operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored.

 

“They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.”