SAT-3 fault repaired
A fault on the SAT-3 cable, which severely impaired connectivity in a number of countries across West Africa, has been repaired.
The damage, which knocked out 70% of Nigeria’s bandwidth and disrupted services in Togo, Niger and Benin, was located 25 kilometres off the coast of Benin. The broken branch forms part of the SAT-3 cable system which connects Europe to South Africa via the African West coast.
According to the BBC to maintain connectivity, the affected countries were forced to route traffic overland or utilise satellite connections. Despite a number of large cable systems which are in the works, SAT-3 is currently the only fibre optic cable servicing the African West Coast.
Upon discovery of the problem, the SAT-3 consortium sent a ship from Cape Town harbour to immediately investigate. The official explanation for what caused the damage has not yet been given although it has been confirmed that the problem was rectified on Sunday evening.
A Telkom representative revealed in late July that the cable fault had no effect on local connectivity.
Currently there are two cable systems planned for the West Coast, namely the Main One 1.28Tbps project set to launch in 2010 and the WACS 3.84Tbps cable set to launch in the second quarter of 2011.
SAT-3 fault repaired – comments
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