Communications

Sat, 28 March 2020 - Staff Writer

Many South Africans are experiencing slow internet on international websites this morning due to another break in one of the undersea cables that connect the country to the rest of the world.

According to TENET, the operating partner of the South African national research and education network, the West Africa Cable System (WACS) went down just before 11:30pm on Friday night. TENET also noted the continued SAT-3 cable outages affecting connectivity.

A major WACS cable outage in January resulted in extremely slow international connectivity, which was further exacerbated because many major local internet service providers waited days before taking action to switch to alternative international cable providers.

Users of internet service providers that already route through the alternative cables should not have a problem with international websites.

The outage comes at a time where most South Africans are stuck at home and many are spending their time online, and many researchers involved in the critical supply and updating of coronavirus information to authorities and essential service staff are working from home.

News & Information

See Also