Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Neesa Moodley
Published on 2024-03-14 16:09:43
Millions of South Africans faced internet connectivity issues on Thursday due to multiple undersea cable outages causing significant downtime. The affected cables included the West Africa Cable System, Africa Coast to Europe, MainOne, and SAT-3/WASC.
Darren Bedford, the WIOCC group business development head, mentioned that the Equiano cable system’s capacity was not affected, along with the Eastern Africa Submarine System, ensuring redundancy and minimizing disruption for their customers.
The outages left South Africans struggling to access internet services, email, and streaming platforms like Microsoft Teams. Reports on Downdetector.co.za indicated a surge in connectivity problems reported by consumers across various sites, including Mweb, Openserve, Octotel, and even major banks such as Absa and FNB.
Microsoft acknowledged the outage investigation, impacting users in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, preventing access to multiple Microsoft 365 services.
Vodacom’s spokesperson, Byron Kennedy, confirmed that multiple undersea cable failures between South Africa and Europe were affecting network providers like Vodacom, leading to intermittent connectivity issues for customers. This incident marked the second time in the past month that undersea cables experienced outages.
In February, Seacom reported a service outage on its cable system in the Red Sea. The cause of the cable break was uncertain at the time, but other cables in the area were also impacted. E-marine, Seacom’s repair partner, began the repair permitting process in early March with authorities, expecting the process to take up to eight weeks due to regulatory procedures.
This widespread internet outage highlighted the vulnerability of South Africa’s connectivity infrastructure and the reliance on undersea cables for international communication. The disruptions not only affected personal internet usage but also impacted businesses, financial institutions, and service providers relying on stable connectivity for day-to-day operations.
As reliance on digital communication continues to grow, incidents like these underline the importance of diversifying communication infrastructure to prevent widespread outages in the future. Building redundancy and alternative routes for connectivity can help mitigate the impact of undersea cable failures and ensure more reliable internet access for South Africans.
Read the original article on Daily Maverick
