Owners of Undersea Cable give timelines for completion

The owners of the four undersea cables that were cut on March 14, 2024, leading to a near total internet blackout in Ghana and other African countries, have provided specific dates on which they will complete repair works on the cables and restore service.

In their 6th Update since the disruption happened, National Communications Authority (NCA) said it had engaged all the four submarine cable service providers – SAT-3, ACE, WACS and MainOne – and they each indicated that two (2) vessels would be involved in the repair works as follows:

• SAT-3 reported that their repair vessel set sail on 19^th March, 2024, from Cape Town, South Africa and the vessel is expected to be within the vicinity of the fault area on 29^th March, 2024, begin repair works immediately and complete by the second week of April,  barring any unforeseen circumstances.
• Meanwhile, MainOne, WACS and ACE also reported that they are working together and have jointly commissioned one repair vessel, which set sail from London, UK, on 24^th March, 2024 and is enroute to the first point of call by 8^th April, 2024. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the expected time of restoration of the cables would be 9^th May, 2024 as per the schedule below.

The expected date of completion for each of the three are as follows:

• ACE  – to be completed by 17^th April, 2024
• WACS – to be completed by 28^th April, 2024 and 
• MainOne – to be completed by 9^th May, 2024

The NCA however noted that the stated dates are tentative and it will issue an update in the event of any new developments.

Meanwhile, ahead of the fix, the two most affected telcos in Ghana, MTN and Telecel, have both acquired 100% capacities from other sources and have since restored service, while waiting for the additional capacity from the four cables to service as backup.