The recent SAT-3/WASC and WACS cable system problems that disrupted services in a number of African countries have still to be completely solved, although restoration of services seems to be getting closer, according to local press reports.
The Leon Thevenin repair ship, whose departure from Cape Town was delayed by bad weather, has finally arrived at its destination. Over the past few days it has begun repairs on the broken submarine cable. One source – a tweet from TENET: the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa – said that there is an estimated repair date of 8 February.
After breaks on both the SAT-3/WASC and WACS cable systems, both of them in the Atlantic Ocean, a number of African countries experienced limited or slowed internet connectivity to international websites.
Local news reports suggest that the effect on ISPs has depended on how much redundancy they have and can access.
Another affected country, Cameroon, has now been reconnected to WACS and SAT3, according to local press reports – or, more precisely, mobile operator Orange Cameroon has announced the resumption of its services, particularly internet and the Orange Money service. Local rival MTN Cameroon was also hard hit but managed to find alternative cable routes.
It’s not yet clear how other countries are coping. As we reported earlier, the resulting slow internet speeds had affected 13 countries in Africa.
