Following an outage that disrupted internet services in parts of West Africa since March 14, 2024, MainOne, a leading provider of undersea fiber optic internet connectivity, has announced the successful completion of repairs to its submarine cable.
The outage, which also affected other subsea communication cables in the region, caused significant disruptions to banking and telecommunication services in countries such as Ghana and Nigeria.
In a statement released on Friday, MainOne, a subsidiary of Equinix, confirmed the repairs and their commitment to maintaining the integrity of the crucial infrastructure.
“Working closely with regional partners, maintenance providers, vessel owners, and permitting authorities, MainOne completed the necessary repairs to its submarine cable system, thanks to the diligent efforts of all stakeholders and has resumed regular operations with the utmost integrity of its submarine cable,” the statement said. “During this period, MainOne provided restoration capacity and rerouted traffic on its network to minimize the impact on its customers.”
MainOne acknowledged the efforts of all involved in the swift resolution, including partners, vessel owners, and permitting authorities. The company also expressed their gratitude to customers for their patience during the outage.
“We are immensely grateful for the support and collaboration of our partners, the patience of our valued customers, and the unwavering commitment of our team during this outage,” said Funke Opeke, Managing Director of MainOne.
MainOne was part of the affected submarine communications cables. Others, including the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) were scheduled to have completed repairs on April 28 and April 17, respectively.
Another Major Cable Cut in East and South Africa
Just days after the West Africa outage was resolved, several internet service providers across East and South Africa reported suffering new outages following a submarine cable cut on Sunday, May 13th.
According to Ben Roberts, Group CTIO at Liquid Intelligent Technologies, all sub-sea capacity between the two regions has been severely affected.
The outage is impacting multiple major cable systems, including the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), Seacom, EIG, and AAE1 cables in the Red Sea area. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, and Rwanda have been hit by extremely slow or fully interrupted internet access.
To minimize impact, service providers like Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom Kenya have activated redundancy measures by rerouting traffic to alternate cable systems and satellite links where possible. However, with multiple cables impacted, options are limited.
Repair ships have been dispatched to locate and fix the cable faults, but details on the specific causes remain unclear at this time. Storms, anchors, fishing trawlers, and underwater earthquakes can all potentially sever these vital cables.
This is the second major submarine cable cut affecting internet access across Africa this year, underscoring the vulnerabilities and lack of redundancy in this critical infrastructure across the continent.
As repairs progress over the coming days and weeks, businesses and customers impacted by the dual outages anxiously await a full restoration of services.
Importance of Undersea Internet Cables
This incident highlights the vital role undersea internet cables play in global connectivity. These submarine cable systems form the backbone of the internet, carrying over 95% of global internet traffic across continents and oceans.
Even a single cable cut can massively disrupt internet, phone, and banking services for entire regions and countries.
The outages are also a stark reminder of the need for more submarine cable investment to improve redundancy for Africa’s growing digital economies and populations heavily reliant on internet connectivity.
