Internet outage: NCA gives update on undersea cable disruptions

Airport City, Accra, 14th March, 2024, 5:00PM: Further to an earlier release from the National Communications Authority (NCA) on the disruption to data services as a result of undersea cable cuts, the Authority wishes to update the public as follows:

1. The Mobile Network Operators (MNO) notified the NCA of undersea cable disruptions which have affected both mobile and fixed data communication services in the country.

2. The disruptions affected all the current active undersea cables namely;

i. ACE – 90% capacity lost
ii. MainOne – about 90% capacity lost
iii. SAT-3 -100% capacity lost
iv. WACS - 90% capacity lost
3. The NCA commenced investigations by contacting all the Submarine Cable Service Providers and Mobile Network Operators to understand the nature and extent of the disruption.

4. The NCA’s investigations revealed that the disruption, which has affected international traffic into the country, occurred in multiple places; for ACE, MainOne, and WACS the incident was in Abidjan while for SAT-3 the incident was in Portugal.

Impact of the Outage
As a result of the multiple undersea cable cuts, Ghana lost 1,596.6 Gbps data capacity.

Update from MNOs
As a result of the outage, the MNOs have since implemented their service continuity plans as follows;

1. MTN
Local Caches (like content from the GIX and other local in-house Caches) are being used to provide minimal data services

2. Telecel
Telecel has currently activated 20Gbps on ACE and almost completed activation of an additional 30Gbps to bring the total capacity to 50Gbps. ACE has since directed the traffic to Lagos through WACS to Europe.

3. AT
AT indicated that the current capacity of 19.5Gbps available is sufficient to provide service for their customers

It is important to note that the outage is not peculiar to Ghana. Countries such as Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire and Cameroon.

NCA is still monitoring the situation and working with all stakeholders and service providers to ensure restoration of full services. The NCA will update the public on any future developments.

Issued by the National Communications Authority:

No. 6 Airport City, Accra
Tel: (0)30 – 2776621/2771701 or 050-145-1522/3.

E-mail: [email protected]
Date – 14th March, 2024