The undersea cable cuts on Thursday, March 14, which provide broadband Internet connectivity to Nigeria and neighboring West African countries, compelled financial institutions, telecom companies, and affiliated firms to reduce their operations, resulting in customers being unable to carry out vital transactions.
It is gathered that telecom engineers have rushed to repair the fiber optic cables damaged between Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire, aiming to swiftly restore services.
The disruptions began on Thursday, initially affecting Ghana before spreading to other African nations, including Nigeria.
The outage slowed banking operations and other services reliant on Internet connectivity.
Confirming the impact, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), acknowledged that the undersea cable cuts disrupted both data and voice services along the African West Coast.
The commission disclosed that the cuts occurred in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with additional disruptions in Portugal.
It added that repair efforts were underway, with affected cable operators pledging to work tirelessly to restore services promptly.
Meanwhile, MainOne, an important internet provider for Nigerian banks, suffered a significant fiber cut, leading to outages that left some banks offline.
The disruption incurred substantial financial losses for affected businesses, although the exact figures were yet to be quantified.
Spokespersons for several banks highlighted the significant impact on their operations, with systems experiencing slowdowns and disruptions.
Despite the challenges, banks such as Unity Bank reached out to customers, providing alternative channels for transactions.
However, customers across the country encountered difficulties accessing services, including making phone calls, sending messages, and conducting online banking transactions.
The outage highlighted the need for stakeholders and African governments to address the region’s tech infrastructure shortcomings and strategize for more resilient systems in the future.
While some telecom operators swiftly responded to mitigate disruptions, others, like Globacom, remained unaffected due to their reliance on the Glo 1 International Submarine Cable, which continued to operate normally.
Efforts to restore full connectivity were ongoing, with affected parties working diligently to minimize disruptions and ensure the seamless functioning of vital services.
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