Reactions as internet blackout grips parts of West and Central Africa

c1da80c4 60b3 4465 8de9 bee0f35656bc

Major parts of West and Central Africa reported internet outages on March 14, due to an undersea cable cut.

These outages have left countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso and Liberia without internet access.

African data centre and connectivity provider MainOne, present in Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast said the internet outage was caused by a break in its submarine cable system.

Given the distance from land, and the cable depth of about 3 kms at the point of fault, any kind of human activity – ship anchors, fishing, drilling etc has been immediately ruled out. Our preliminary analysis would suggest some form of seismic activity on the seabed resulted in a break to the cable, but we will obtain more data when the cable is retrieved during the repair exercise," MainOne said.

People in affected regions have been forced to adapt to life without the digital lifeline they've grown accustomed to. While the internet has been largely restored in countries like Liberia and South Africa, the same cannot be said for countries like Ghana and Nigeria. However, they have reported a gradual improvement in their internet connectivity.

People living in these affected areas have taken to social media to express their frustration, share experiences about how living without internet has been for them, and even find moments of humour amid the inconvenience.

Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has been a buzz with posts from individuals from the affected areas.

Below are some reactions following the major internet blackout.

More from Qonversations

Uncategorized

Artificial Intelligence

Is Indonesia ready to lead the AI revolution with Sahabat-AI?

Uncategorized

ca4795b3 b30d 4296 9c12 d6836104ff78

Ousmane Sonko’s appointment as prime minister: A long-awaited breakthrough for Senegal?

Uncategorized

5fd19976 9ecc 45e4 ad02 6db5ac63bba5

Kosovo lawmakers back deal to rent jail space to Denmark

Uncategorized

9f044c5c 5ef3 47ba a138 9899d608c9df

Israeli army intercepts target from Lebanon, Israel says

Front of mind