The undersea internet cable that was damaged in August has finally been repaired.
In early August, South Africans experienced disrupted internet connectivity as a result of an undersea cable that sustained damages at two separate locations.
It has now been confirmed that the (WACS) Western African Cable System has now been repaired a month after it snapped in the Congo.
Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy confirmed that the cable had been repaired on Tuesday.
It appears that only one of the two cables has undergone repairs so far, while the other cable, the South Atlantic Cable (SAT-3), still requires attention.
The complicated network of thin undersea fiber-optic cables that stretches for thousands of kilometers beneath the ocean’s surface is a major support for the Internet. These cables are necessary because they make it possible to send information quickly over long distances.
Althon Beukes, the CEO of Openserve, assured that once the cable repair is finished, customers’ latency will be improved.
Beukes stated:
“The team has made remarkable progress and, although the impact on Openserve was limited due to our investment in other international cable capacity, the restoration will reinstate our customers’ latency and redundancy on the WACS cable,”
The extended delay was attributed to a single available ship capable of performing the repairs. Unfortunately, the ship in question, the Léon Thévenin, had prior commitments, and adverse weather conditions were also forecasted, adding to the complications.
It has been said that Africa is “radically underserved” in the undersea cable department. The number of cables has increased though in recent years which will undoubtedly lead to more breaks in the future.
The crew of the Léon Thévenin has received praise for their skillful and efficient work, given the challenging conditions they had to navigate in order to complete the job swiftly.
This repair is expected to enhance the speed of our internet connections, and we anticipate that the remaining cable will undergo repairs in the near future.