Internet access off in west Africa

SAT-3 cable damage caused internet blackouts in multiple west African countries including Benin, Togo, Niger, and Nigeria. Togo and Niger were “completely offline” and Benin was able to “reroute its net traffic through neighboring countries.”

SAT-3 Map

However, the three nations were able to use alternative satellite links in order to maintain some Internet communication with the rest of the world. Nigeria suffered a 70% loss of bandwidth that caused problems in banking, government and other mobile networks.

President of the Nigeria Internet Group, Lanre Ajayi, said, “[the cable is] a critical national resource because of its importance to the economy and to security.”

Two weeks may pass before the cable is fixed.

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