NetBlocks reports that people in West and Central Africa are facing internet connectivity issues, with Ivory Coast being the most severely affected country.
The monitoring group indicates that the companies managing the subsea cables connecting the region to the internet have reported several failures. However, the exact cause of these problems remains unclear, according to Reuters.
NetBlocks further notes that internet connectivity in Ivory Coast is currently operating at only 4% of its expected level. Other countries such as Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso have also experienced significant disruptions.
In addition, users in South Africa are reporting slow internet speeds, as stated by website News24.
A spokesperson from telecoms company Vodacom mentioned that “multiple subsea cable failures between South Africa and Europe were impacting network providers.”
On Thursday, March 14, mobile network customers observed hours of disruption in internet, data and voice services providers by telecommunication companies in the country.
The difficulty experienced by companies and members of the general public has been attributed to outages on multiple submarines optic fibre cables that come into Ghana.
In a press statement, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, noted that some of the cables were down while others continued delivering limited capacity.
“This is impacting internet, data and Voice over IP (VolP) services of the members of the Chamber; the Mobile Network Operators and the Data Service Providers to varying degrees. As a result customers and subscribers are currently experiencing service challenges,” the statement noted.
The National Communications Authority (NCA) noted that the internet challenges go beyond Ghana’s border.
In a circular, the NCA indicated that the “disruptions affecting multiple undersea cables responsible for carrying international traffic have occurred in Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire and with some disruptions in Portugal.”
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and NCA have both assured that further investigations are being carried out as well as work to resolve the problems to restore services to customers.
“The inconvenience to customers is deeply regretted” the statement drafted by the Telecommunications Chamber concluded.