The National Communications Authority (NCA) has announced that repairs to the undersea cables, which were recently damaged and resulted in the country’s complete internet outage last March, have been finalized.
Dr. Joe Anokye, the Director-General of the NCA, disclosed that the repair work on all four affected cables was concluded between April 6 and May 8, 2024.
He revealed this information on Friday during the 2024 World Telecommunications and Information Society Day celebration in Accra.
The day was themed “Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development.”
On March 14 of this year, Ghana experienced disruptions to its data services due to damage to underwater cables.
All four undersea cable landing service providers in Ghana (ACR, MainOne, SAT-3, and WACS) were disconnected from international data services, resulting in a complete shutdown of internet services.
Dr. Anokye announced that repairs to the damaged cables were now complete, and internet services had been fully restored.
According to the subsea cable service providers, all four cable faults were located near the crossing with Le Trou Sans Fond Canyon, an underwater canyon off the coast of Abidjan.
Dr. Anokye confirmed that the SAT-3 cable was restored on April 6 and the ACE cable on April 17, 2024.
“The WACS cable was repaired on April 29, 2024, and the MainOne cable repairs were completed on May 8, 2024,” he added.
Dr. Anokye highlighted that the Authority had initiated the implementation of the nation’s satellite services policy framework to alleviate the impacts of recent disruptions resulting from damaged undersea cables.
This initiative aims to provide the public with access to advanced satellite services alongside existing ground-based options.
“This will enhance the connectivity resilience of the country, considering the recent disruption of undersea fiber optic cables on March 14, 2024,” he stressed.
Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, urged collaborative efforts among institutions such as the Bank of Ghana, NCA, NITA, and the Data Protection Commission to tackle identified challenges and enhance the digital landscape.
“Meaningful digital innovation does not happen in isolation. It thrives on collaboration. None of us can do it alone; we need each other, and so together, let us forge a path towards a brighter, more connected future for generations to come,” she charged.
According to Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful, the government has taken many crucial measures that will provide the groundwork for attaining its goal of making Ghana the ICT powerhouse of West Africa.
In order to serve underserved and unserved communities, this involves building large in-country fiber optic cables to supplement those installed by the private sector and building rural telephony sites.