NCC claims voice, data services up by 90% after disruption

• Operators deploy strategies to restore subsea cables

Following the disruption on March 14, which affected data and voice services due to cuts in undersea fibre optics along the coasts of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed services being restored to approximately 90 per cent at optimal level.

Its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, in a statement, yesterday, hinted that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have assured the regulator that data and voice services would operate optimally pending full repairs of the undersea cables, as they have managed to activate alternative connectivities to restore normalcy.

As part of efforts to address the Internet outage, WIOCC, Africa’s digital backbone, has said it is leading the continent’s response to the cable cuts currently affecting the WACS, ACE, Main One and SAT3 subsea systems on the western seaboard.

WIOCC, which claimed that its hyper-scale capacity on every major system is the largest in Africa and ideally placed to swiftly deliver restoration solutions to hyperscalers, fixed and mobile carriers, Internet service providers and other clients, enabling them to quickly re-establish key traffic routes into, within and out of Africa, said the move would minimise performance degradation for end-customers.

The Group CEO, Chris Wood noted: “Immediately the four subsea cables were severed off the coast of Cote d‘Ivoire, our engineering, operations and field teams swung into action. They have been working tirelessly for the last 48 hours with our strategic network partners and equipment suppliers and will, within the next 24 hours, have activated an unprecedented additional 2 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity across the unaffected cables in our network to support the capacity needs of other network operators and hyperscalers. Our clients connected directly at Open Access Data Centres (OADC) data centres in South Africa and Nigeria are already protected from the impact of the subsea outages due to the unique levels of redundancy and scale of the WIOCC core backbone.

“In Lagos, the Equiano cable, in which WIOCC owns a fibre pair, has not been affected by the incident off Cote d‘Ivoire. WIOCC lands the cable directly into the OADC data centre, establishing the most resilient digital ecosystem hub in Lagos and offering the most direct connectivity to Europe and South Africa. As a result, OADC’s data centres and WIOCC’s hyperscale network are playing a key role in restoring services to other facilities and operators currently suffering outages in Lagos and elsewhere on the continent.”

In a statement, yesterday, the Group Chief Operating Officer, Ryan Sher, added that the priority “is to ensure minimal disruption and maximum resilience for our clients”

Already, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, has announced plans to spearhead a global collaboration for enhanced protection of undersea cables.

He made the disclosure on X (formerly Twitter) handle at the weekend.

Recognising the critical role these cables play in the digital economy, Tijani emphasised the need to review international laws and foster partnerships with regional and global bodies to accelerate efforts to safeguard them.