⚠️ Internet goes dark in Africa

Internet users across Africa felt the sting of a digital disconnect as its underwater subsea cables experienced critical damage this week. The damage, with causes unknown, impacted key cables like WACS, MainOne, SAT3, and ACE, crippling the region's digital connectivity.

For example, Liberia bore the brunt of the outage, after being cut off from the online world for over 12 hours. Other West African nations including Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and even South Africa experienced significant slowdowns, leaving frustrated users grappling for Internet access.

Many people like me have had to resort to satellite connectivity, with services like Starlink becoming unexpectedly valuable. As service providers work to reroute traffic and repairs get underway, experiences like this are a stark reminder that a smooth-scrolling Instagram feed or a lag-free video call can be at the mercy of a shark throwing tantrums or an ocean mishap.

Meanwhile, this incident exposes a raw nerve in Africa's digital landscape; it's a wake-up call, emphasizing the need for increased redundancy and diversification in the continent's infrastructure.

Whether it was a rogue anchor, or a hungry shark with a taste for fibre optic cables, all I know is that a stable internet connection is a luxury you miss when it's gone.

It's now worth more than a treasure.

– Emmanuel