Damage to undersea cables is disrupting internet access across Africa

ACROSS LARGE parts of Africa people have been staring at blank screens and cursing their computers of late. On March 14th Ghana’s stock exchange closed an hour later than usual, after internet problems disrupted trading. Connection issues forced a Nigerian cement company to cancel an earnings call. Data connectivity in Liberia and Benin fell below 20% of ordinary levels, according to NetBlocks, a digital-research firm. In Ivory Coast it plunged to 3%. Though some traffic has been restored, Wi-Fi remains dodgy in perhaps a dozen countries.

The reason for all the trouble is that four of the major undersea data cables serving Africa, including the West African Cable System (WACS), were badly damaged somewhere near Ivory Coast just weeks after another was severed near Yemen. MainOne, which operates one of the west African cables, says it has ruled out human causes (such as fishing) and thinks the damage was from seismic activity on the seabed. Ghana’s National Communications Authority reckons the problem will take at least five weeks to fix.