The Nigerian Communications Commission says a combination of cable faults resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast has negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several West African countries.

A statement on Friday by NCC said the countries included Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Cote de Ivoire, among others.

It said the cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.

“Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.

“Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across on these routes.

“In Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries,” the NCC statement said.

According to the statement, operators of these cables have already commenced repairs, and services are gradually being restored.

It added, “They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.

“It is important to bring this information to the knowledge of corporate and individual consumers on these services.”

(NAN)