Ghana faces internet blackout from undersea cable disruption

The meltdown of Internet services across Ghana, caused by the disruption of undersea cables over the past few days, has severely affected the country's business activities.

Business owners said the Internet blackout has affected their routine activities and resulted in a loss of revenue due to the abrupt cessation of operations, causing a degree of anxiety and tension among the Ghanaian public. One manager of a popular online news portal in Ghana, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "The disruption of Internet services has been severe. I am not able to work the whole day." 

Felix Sogah, an economics tutor at Chemu Senior High School in Tema City, said the Internet shutdown over the past few days has affected his work. "I do research to update my figures and obtain data for what I teach my students. I have been doing this for years. However, for the past few days, it has been extremely difficult to access the Internet to obtain the data I require for my work," said Sogah.

Angela Aidoo, a Ghanaian mother of two, said she has difficulty accessing the Electricity Company of Ghana's application to pay her electricity bill. 

"Because of the Internet disruptions, I cannot buy electricity and have to sleep in darkness when my meter goes off," said Aidoo. Internet services in the West African country went down late Wednesday, affecting virtually all services that relied on the Internet, including the aviation industry, transportation, telecommunications, education, and health. 

The country's National Communications Authority (NCA) described the nationwide Internet disruption as "unprecedented," citing multiple undersea cable disruptions as reasons responsible for the limited capacity of mobile and fixed data services across the country. "The disruptions affecting multiple undersea cables responsible for carrying international traffic have occurred in Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire, with some disruptions in Portugal. This has led to a significant degradation of data services across the country," the NCA said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the NCA, four of Ghana's five main submarine cables have been affected, with 90 percent of their capacity lost, while one has lost its total capacity. In its latest statement late Saturday, the NCA said 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. 

"They have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five weeks for full-service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations," said the statement. "The NCA recognises 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," it added.