Subsea cable breakages

Paratus Group provides resilient network capacity solutions

Multiple outages on undersea cables are disrupting internet and online services and have been affecting millions of people in Africa for the past two weeks. This disruption could have far-reaching consequences not only for commercial operations and personal communications but also for the healthcare and education sectors. 

The recent outages have been caused by cuts affecting the undersea cables near Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, namely the West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne and SAT3 cables.  These submarine cable systems play a critical role in connecting Africa to the global internet and therefore any disruption or damage to the cables can lead to widespread outages.

To mitigate the impact of such outages, some network operators, such as Paratus Group, have invested in multiple subsea cables to ensure redundancy and maintain the stability of their networks. Because it has capacity on alternative cable systems – specifically Equiano and South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) – Paratus can provide a resilient capacity solution to its customers.

Paratus Group Chief Technical Officer, Rolf Mendelsohn says:  “In today’s world, reliable internet connectivity is no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity. As a responsible network operator, we have invested heavily in building a robust and resilient infrastructure, including redundant undersea cable systems. Thanks to our proactive approach, our customers remain connected and are experiencing minimal service disruptions during this challenging period.”

About Paratus

Born and bred in Africa, Paratus understands the unique opportunities that Africa offers business and individuals to break boundaries and to connect without limits.

With an eye on the future, the group is investing in infrastructure and establishing itself as a key player in delivering integrated network services and in providing Africa’s quality network. Paratus is managed by passionate and professional operational teams in seven African countries: Angola, Botswana, DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.  

The business’s extended network provides satellite connectivity-focused services in more than 30 African countries and connects African businesses across the continent with end-to-end service excellence. With international points of presence (PoPs) in Europe and the US, Paratus guarantees diversity and resilience across its networks including its new high-speed express route from Johannesburg to Europe.