The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has attributed the recent negative impacts on data and fixed telecom services being experienced in the country to a combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast.
The Commission said in a statement Thursday night that the negative impact on data and fixed telecom services is not peculiar to Nigeria but is equally evident in several countries of West Africa, including Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal, among others.
NCC said in the statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, that the cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.
“Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.
“Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across on these routes,” Muoka said in the statement.
While noting that in Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries, Muoka disclosed however, that Operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored.
“They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time,” he said.