Internet services likely to be fully restored in 5 weeks – NCA

National Communications Authority (NCA) has disclosed that it will take a minimum of five weeks to fully restore internet connections across the country.

Mobile Network Operations have been disrupted since Thursday, March 14, 2024, due to cuts in undersea fibre optic cables, which serve as crucial conduits for internet connectivity in the country.

The outages have left many Ghanaians without internet connections.

NCA in a statement, indicated that it met with all the subsea cable landing service providers and the three affected mobile operators on Saturday, March 16, where it was disclosed that the service providers have remotely identified the approximate locations of the damage and are working to deploy repair vessels to the area.

It disclosed that full restoration of connectivity will take a minimum of five weeks and assured the public of its commitment to continue collaborating with relevant stakeholders to ensure the work is done on time.

Below is the NCA’s full statement

Further to our last update, the National Communications Authority (NCA) wishes to inform the public that:

1. The Authority this afternoon held a face-to-face meeting with all four (4) subsea cable landing service providers (ACE, MainOne, SAT-3 and WACS); and the three (3) mobile network operators (AT, MTN and Telecel).

2. The meeting was attended by the top management of the above providers and operators to receive updates and to discuss the way forward.

3. The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and subsea cable landing service providers continue to work with their international partners in the sub-region to progressively add more capacity for data services as it becomes available.

4. The subsea cable landing service providers have remotely identified the approximate locations of the damage and have made preparations to dispatch repair vessels to the location for physical assessment and restoration.

5. Based on the above, the subsea cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five (5) weeks for full-service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations.

6. The NCA recognizes the impact the disruptions have had on economic, academic and social activities and assures the public of its commitment to continue collaborating with relevant stakeholders. We expect some improvement in data services in the coming days while the operators work around the clock to restore full connectivity.

7. The NCA encourages MNOs, Internet Service Providers, and all other providers to actively participate in the operations of the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX) in order to ensure an efficient local content delivery and a seamless Internet traffic exchange locally.

8. New developments will be communicated when available.

—CitiNewsroom