Damaged SAT-3 ACE undersea cables undergoing repairs after rockfall incident

Last month, Technext reported that four undersea cables off the coast of the Congo suffered severe damage. These cables included the West Africa Cable System (WACS), the ACE subsea cable, the Angolan domestic festoon system, and the South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) cables. The cause was attributed to a rockfall in the Congo Canyon.

The incident had earlier caused disruptions in internet services across multiple African countries. However, prompt efforts to restore the damaged cables in the form of repairs are now being led by the French cable-laying vessel Léon Thévenin.

The Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) subsea cable, which was severely damaged, is now on the fast track to recovery, according to reports from Techweez.

The ACE subsea cable, stretching over 17,000 kilometres along the western coast of Africa, serves as a pivotal link between 19 countries in Europe and Africa. The cable system also plays a pivotal role in connecting the following countries: France, Portugal, the Canary Islands (Spain), Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mali, and Niger (ACE Phase I), and South Africa.

Léon Thévenin, the only authorized vessel for repairing the WACS cable segment, also completed repairs on the WACS cable as early as September 5th. Traffic was swiftly rerouted back to the WACS cable, and the affected countries were promptly reconnected.

Read also: Damaged West African and South Atlantic 3 undersea cables could take months to fix

The pivotal role of the undersea cables

Bayobab, one of the 20 companies that invested in the ACE cables, expressed its understanding of the critical importance of these undersea cable systems for international data transmission and connectivity across multiple regions.

The four subsea cables are crucial for providing internet services to Africa. Of the countries listed as having landing points for the ACE Submarine Cable, 10 had significant disruptions. The most significant, and longest-lasting disruption was seen in Mauritania, with a complete outage lasting for nearly 48 hours.

Openserve, MTN, Vodacom, and Cloudflare reported network issues after the cable snaps. Therefore, they mitigated the disruptions by re-routing traffic onto other cables.