Both MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana have today reported some improvement in internet access to customers following days of near total blackout due to the massive subsea cable cuts that happened on Thursday, March 14, 2024.
The cuts occurred on all four major submarine fibre optics cables that connect Ghana to the rest of the world and on which all telecoms and internet service provider in Ghana offer data/internet services to customers.
The four affected cables were as follows:
ACE – which stretches from France (in Europe) to Cape Town (South Africa
WACS – stretching from Portugal (in Europe) to Cape Town
SAT-3 – from Portugal/Spain to Cape Town
MainOne – from Portugal to Cape Town
Per a series of statements from the National Communications Authority, ACE, WACS, and MainOne lost 90% capacity due to the cut, while SAT-3 lost 100% capacity.
Hours of the disruption, AT Ghana was back on track providing service to its customers on the back of some limited backup capacity it had from WIOCC (West India Ocean Cable Company), while K-NET also fell back on its redundant capacity on Angola Cable to resume service with about 40 minutes.
But the two leading telcos in Ghana have been in the woods for days since the disruption, with customers largely unable to do anything meaningful online, except for WhatsApp text, and some limited access to YouTube and Netflix.