Damaged subsea cables causing network outage in Africa to be reparied in five weeks

Ghana on network outage: Ghana's communications regulator announced on Saturday that repairs to damaged subsea cables, causing widespread internet outages across West and Central Africa, are expected to take a minimum of five weeks for completion and full service restoration.

The disruption in the cables has significantly impacted internet and telecommunications-related businesses, including banks, mobile phone operations, money transfer agencies, and stock exchange markets.

The National Communications Authority of Ghana disclosed that it convened a meeting with the four subsea cable landing service providers - Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne (owned by data center operator Equinix), South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3), and the West Africa Cable System (WACS) - along with mobile network operators.

According to the regulator, the service providers have identified the approximate location of the damage and are preparing to dispatch repair vessels.

"The cable landing service providers have projected a timeframe of at least five weeks for full service restoration from the dispatch of vessels to the respective locations," stated the regulator.

MainOne, in a statement on Friday, indicated that initial analysis suggested seismic activity on the seabed had caused the cable breakage.

(With Reuters inputs)