Angola turns to SACS cable to minimise internet interruptions

Angola and other African countries have redirected international data and traffic to the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) cable to reduce significant internet outages across the continent, caused by undersea cable breakages.

Angola Cables alerted the public yesterday that, while the reason of the reported cable breaks off the Ivory Coast of West Africa has yet to be determined, it is working to reduce the damage on Angola and other countries by redirecting traffic.

The SACS is owned and operated by Angola Cables, a wholesale network operator and a joint venture of five Angolan operators: Angola Telecom (51%), Unitel (31%), MSTelcom (9%), Movicel (6%), and Startel (3%).

The cable system connects Angola directly to Brazil and from there to the United States and Europe, and it is the world's first submarine cable system across the South Atlantic.

In a statement yesterday, Angola Cables announced the use of SACS, adding that it “has network backup and restoration solutions available through cables that have not been affected by the faults off the Ivory Coast.

“Our technical team is currently diligently working with industry partners to stabilise international connectivity and to ensure that we can provide support and guarantee the stability of services to African network operators and entities that need it.”

Yesterday, it was reported that four cables suffered damage in shallow waters off the Ivory Coast, resulting in internet outage.

The interruptions affected Southern, Eastern, and West African countries because of the cable breakages.

This further compounded connectivity challenges faced across the continent, as last week three undersea cables were severed on the east coast of Africa, and, given the political situation in the area, are proving challenging to repair.