MTN Nigeria Gives Reason For Slow Network, Internet Downtime, Details

Reacting to the development, MTN Nigeria in a statement on Thursday confirmed that the network connectivity disruptions experienced by its customers.

Telecommunications companies and banks in Nigeria have been hit by an internet outage as a result of damage to international undersea cables supplying them with connectivity.

VerseNews learnt that the damage affected major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and is causing downtime across West and South African countries.

The West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3 cables are affected.

Some bank networks in Nigeria have been down and unable to process transactions as a result of the internet outage. Telecom subscribers, especially, those of MTN have also been complaining of poor data experience since Thursday morning.

MTN Nigeria confirms network, internet downtime

Reacting to the development, MTN Nigeria in a statement on Thursday confirmed that the network connectivity disruptions experienced by its customers were due to damage to an overseas undersea cable.

MTN Nigeria assured its customers that it was actively working to resolve the issue and restore services as quickly as possible.

The statement read in part, “Bayobab Group acknowledges the ongoing disruptions affecting connectivity services in several West African countries due to breaks in multiple major undersea cables. Recognising the critical importance of consistent internet and communication services, we are fully committed to swiftly addressing these disruptions.

“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,’ the telco stated.

A few weeks ago, major operators across the country, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel, and 9Mobile, grappled with a widespread network connection crisis.

Subscribers were unable to make calls due to glitches attributed to a fibre optic cable cut.

The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, attributed the connectivity issue to the significant fibre cuts made by road contractors employed by the federal government.

The ALTON chairman noted, “There have been significant fibre cuts across the country, and this has impacted connectivity today, but efforts are being made by affected telecom operators to rectify this situation.”

Similarly, the cable outages were affecting several internet service providers and cloud service providers in South Africa.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Vodacom said, “Certain customers are currently experiencing intermittent connectivity issues due to multiple undersea cable failures affecting SA’s network providers, including us. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”