The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed the commencement of repair works on major undersea cables along the West African Coast, following equipment faults caused by cable cuts on Thursday.
The incident, which occurred off the shores of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, resulted in significant disruptions to data and fixed telecom services across several countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Cote de Ivoire.
Operators of affected cables, including the West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE), have initiated repair efforts, with services gradually being restored. Additionally, the SAT3 and MainOne cables have experienced downtime due to the cuts.
Furthermore, the disruption extended beyond West Africa, impacting traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa. Undersea cables such as Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1) were also affected, particularly around the Red Sea, leading to service degradation along these routes.
In Nigeria and other affected West African countries, internet access and speed have been adversely affected, with disruptions reported across the networks of various service providers.
The NCC assured the public that efforts are underway to rectify the situation and restore full connectivity as soon as possible. Meanwhile, users in the affected regions may continue to experience intermittent service disruptions during the repair period.