Significant internet disruptions have been documented across several African nations. South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana, and Burkina Faso have all experienced outages, with the exact cause of these cable failures remaining unclear. Cloudflare Radar, a provider of internet connection information, noted a pattern in the timing and geographical spread of these disruptions, affecting regions from North to South Africa.
According to Netblocks, a cybersecurity and internet connectivity tracking organization, internet connectivity in Ivory Coast plummeted to approximately 4% on Thursday morning. Similar drops were observed in Liberia, Benin, and Ghana, with percentages ranging from 14% to 25%. Vodacom in South Africa acknowledged intermittent connectivity issues attributed to multiple undersea cable failures.
A fault was reported on the MainOne cable system serving Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub. The Liberian government confirmed internet disruption, impacting citizens’ access to basic internet services, social media, and international bank transfers. Limited international voice calls were also affected.
Individuals affected by the outage expressed frustration, with some citing significant impacts on their daily lives and businesses. The Liberia Telecommunications Authority attributed the disruption to an incident involving the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine communications cable in Ivory Coast. Similarly, in Ghana, the National Communications Authority (NCA) attributed the outage to multiple undersea cable disruptions.
Cloudflare also highlighted ongoing major internet disruptions in The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, and Niger through social media posts.