The National Communications Authority (NCA) has issued a recent update on the undersea cable cuts that have led to significant disruptions in data capacity within the country.

According to the statement dated Thursday, March 14, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are currently operating on minimal data capacity as a result of these disruptions.

The NCA's investigations revealed that the undersea cable cuts affecting international traffic into Ghana occurred in multiple locations.

Specifically, for ACE, MainOne, and WACS, the incident was traced to Abidjan, while for SAT-3, the incident occurred in Portugal. These disruptions have collectively led to a loss of 1,596.6 Gbps data capacity for Ghana.

As a consequence of these undersea cable cuts, the three major MNOs are operating with reduced data capacity to serve their clients.

MTN is utilizing local caches, such as content from the GIX and other in-house caches, to provide minimal data services.

Telecel (formerly Vodafone) has activated 20Gbps on ACE and is in the process of adding an additional 30Gbps to bring the total capacity to 50Gbps. Additionally, ACE has rerouted traffic to Lagos through WACS to Europe.

Meanwhile, AT has indicated to the NCA that the current capacity of 19.5Gbps is sufficient to provide service for their customers.

The NCA emphasized that the outage is not exclusive to Ghana and has affected other countries in the region, including Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, and Cameroon.

The authority continues to monitor the situation and collaborate with all stakeholders and service providers to ensure the full restoration of services. Further updates will be provided to the public as the situation develops.

FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
UPDATE 2: UNDERSEA CABLE DISRUPTIONS AFFECT DATA SERVICES

Airport City, Accra, 14th March, 2024, 5:00PM: Further to an earlier release from the National Communications Authority (NCA) on the disruption to data services as a result of undersea cable cuts, the Authority wishes to update the public as follows:

1. The Mobile Network Operators (MNO) notified the NCA of undersea cable disruptions which have affected both mobile and fixed data communication services in the country.

2. The disruptions affected all the current active undersea cables namely;
i. ACE – 90% capacity lost
ii. MainOne – about 90% capacity lost
iii. SAT-3 -100% capacity lost
iv. WACS – 90% capacity lost

3. The NCA commenced investigations by contacting all the Submarine Cable Service Providers and Mobile Network Operators to understand the nature and extent of the disruption.

4. The NCA’s investigations revealed that the disruption, which has affected international traffic into the country, occurred in multiple places; for ACE, MainOne, and WACS the incident was in Abidjan while for SAT-3 the incident was in Portugal.

Impact of the Outage

As a result of the multiple undersea cable cuts, Ghana lost 1,596.6 Gbps data capacity.

Update from MNOs
As a result of the outage, the MNOs have since implemented their service continuity plans as follows;

1. MTN
Local Caches (like content from the GIX and other local in-house Caches) are being used to provide minimal data services

2. Telecel
Telecel has currently activated 20Gbps on ACE and almost completed activation of an additional 30Gbps to bring the total capacity to 50Gbps. ACE has since directed the traffic to Lagos through WACS to Europe.

3. AT
AT indicated that the current capacity of 19.5Gbps available is sufficient to provide service for their customers

It is important to note that the outage is not peculiar to Ghana. Countries such as Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire and Cameroon.

NCA is still monitoring the situation and working with all stakeholders and service providers to ensure restoration of full services. The NCA will update the public on any future developments.

Issued by the National Communications Authority:
No. 6 Airport City, Accra
Tel: (0)30 – 2776621/2771701 or 050-145-1522/3.
E-mail: [email protected]
Date – 14th March, 2024