Banks in Nigeria have been affected by a damage to submarine cables, causing internet outages in parts of Africa.
The submarine cable cuts, on Thursday, affected subsea cable
providers and disrupted internet traffic in major parts of the continent.
According to reports, the damage affected major undersea
cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, affecting submarine communications
cables, including West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe
(ACE), MainOne, and SAT3.
The issue is said to be causing downtime across West and
South African countries, affecting telecommunications network as well as banks
in Nigeria.
In a notice to customers on Thursday, Sterling Bank
apologised to customers over the effect of the network disruption affecting
transactions.
“We are aware that you may be experiencing difficulties
trying to transfer funds, reach our customer care team, or transact via USSD
and genuinely apologize for the effect of this on your day,” Sterling Bank
said.
“We are fully committed to providing the best service and
are working tirelessly to resolve this issue. You have our promise to notify
you as soon as it has been fixed.”
Speaking to TheCable, Rasheed Bolarinwa, president,
Association of Corporate and Marketing Communications Professionals of Banks in
Nigeria (ACAMB), said the situation impacted connectivity across many banks.
“Yes, it did impact connectivity across substantial number,
if not virtually all the Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria as banking operations
were substantially affected for most parts of today,” Bolarinwa said.
Bolarinwa said substantial progress is being recorded in
gradual resolution of the glitch.
MTN SERVICES AFFECTED BY DAMAGE
MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications provider,
also said its services in several West African countries have been disrupted.
In a statement on Thursday, the telco giant said the ongoing
disconnection experienced by its customers is due to breaks in multiple major
undersea cables.
On February 22, 2024, Bayobab, a pan-African digital
connectivity, partnered with MTN Nigeria to land a 45,000km subsea cable in the
country.
The cable known as ‘2Africa,’ has its landing station at
Mopo-Onibeju Lekki area of Lagos and in Qua Iboe, Akwa Ibom.
2Africa is said to be the longest underwater cable in the
world, passing through three continents and 33 countries, several of which are
in Africa.
Speaking further, MTN said efforts are being made to resolve
the disruption.
“Recognising the critical importance of consistent internet
and communication services, we are fully committed to swiftly addressing these
disruptions,” MTN said.
“To mitigate the impact on our customers in the affected
countries, our operations are actively working to reroute traffic through
alternative network paths and engaging with our consortium partners to expedite
the repair process for the damaged cables.
“Leveraging our robust and resilient network infrastructure,
we aim to minimise service interruptions and maintain connectivity.
“We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work
diligently to resolve this situation.”
In another statement, MTN Nigeria said the network
disruption is due to damage to international undersea cables across East and
West Africa.
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