Most of central and western Africa lost internet access on Thursday. The biggest problems are in Liberia, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso. Residents of Gambia, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Namibia and Lesotho also have major problems – .
The Internet in Africa is down. What happened?
Initially, it was not clear what was causing the failure. However, the Seacom operator confirmed that the West African Cable System is not operational. The traffic was automatically redirected to another network used by the operator – Google Equiano. Vodafone also blames the submarine cables.
that the failure affected, among others, MainOne, the internet provider of most Nigerian banks and network operators. As a result, banks in Nigeria stopped operating and customers were unable to access their accounts and applications.
What is causing the internet outage in Africa? The media is talking about cutting the cable
Internet disruptions resulting from cable damage in Africa have already occurred in recent years. However, Thursday’s outage is one of the most serious and indicates that there is a bigger problem than usual, says Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks, a group documenting internet disruptions around the world, quoted by The Guardian.
NetBlocks data traffic studies indicate that the problem involves international networks being compromised where cables enter the water. In total, the problems affected at least 12 countries. Such failures affect the entire region. Traffic is redirected to other connections, which reduces their capacity and, therefore, the availability of the Internet in countries that are not directly affected by the problem – explains Isik Mater.
African media report that the failure may have been caused by cutting cables. The Ghana Telecommunications Chamber, which reported the problem, did not clarify whether the cut cable was actually the source of the problem –
The disruption may have been caused by physically cutting the cable, but its consequences are of a technical nature
– says Isik Mater from NetBlocks.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
