Web Traffic Bounces from Angola to Brazil and Back to Dodge West Africa Fault
- Subsea cable repairs expected to take at least three weeks
- Cables off western coast may have been damaged in landslide
Widespread internet outages hit at least eight West African countries.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Internet service providers serving Africa have been forced to send their traffic via elaborate detours following damage to four major subsea cables off the continent’s west coast last week.
Some telecommunications companies are bypassing the cables by going via Brazil, according to one of the cable operators. Others have shifted their traffic overland onto a web of cross-border terrestrial cables. The re-routing helped MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest wireless carrier by revenue, restore its network.