MainOne, a company providing digital infrastructure services in West Africa, expects it could take up to two weeks to fix its undersea submarine cables.
On Thursday, March 14, these cables were cut, impacting internet connectivity across several parts of the continent.
This disruption affected the operations of banks and telecommunications firms in Nigeria.
MainOne announced on Friday that it may take an extra two to three weeks for a ship to collect replacement parts for submarine cables and journey from Europe to West Africa.
They stated that an external incident caused the network outage. Initial investigations revealed a cut in their submarine cable system off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean.
As quoted by TheCable, the firm said:
“We have a maintenance agreement with Atlantic Cable Maintenance and Repair Agreement (ACMA) to provide repair services for the submarine cable.
“First identify and assign a vessel, the vessel has to retrieve the necessary spares required for repair, and then sail to the fault location to conduct the repair work.
“Next, in order to complete the repair, the affected section of the submarine cable will have to be pulled from the seabed onto the ship where it will be spliced by skilled technicians.”
Repair of undersea cable might take 2 weeks – MainOne
MainOne has announced that once the repairs are completed, they will carefully examine and test the joints for any issues.
The submarine cable will be returned to the ocean floor and positioned correctly.
The repair process is estimated to last 1-2 weeks, and once it is ready to mobilise, the vessel may travel from Europe to West Africa to pick up the necessary parts.
On Friday, the company provided another update, stating that it is collaborating with unaffected cable systems to ensure they have the necessary capacity for restoration.
