Damaged Fiber Optic Cable Disrupts Uganda Internet Connectivity

01-March-2012

Ugandans may have to wait longer before they can have stable internet connectivity.

Since Saturday last week, internet cafes, organisations and individual internet users have had their work disrupted resulting
from a damage on the TEAMs, cable off the Kenyan coast.

The cable was damaged after a ship waiting to dock at the Mombasa Port anchored in a restricted area thus damaging the cable.
A message sent out to MTN internet users read: “Dear customer, due to the fibre outage caused by undersea cable cut,
you are currently experiencing a degraded internet service.”

Message sent to Orange subscribers read: " Hello, we are experiencing an internet interruption due to fibre failure in Mombasa.
This will affect your internet experience, efforts to rectify are ongoing".

And the message I recieved on my Airtel connected phone: " Dear customer, we're experiencing internet interruptions due to fiber outage
in Mombasa. This will affect your user experience. Efforts to restore are ongoing.

In an e-mail, Mr Themba Khumalo, the MTN Uganda chief executive officer, told Daily Monitor that the damaged cable had affected the
entire East African region. However, he said, MTN had managed to keep its customers connected using alternatives providers.

Madhur Taneja, the Warid chief executive officer said the problem might persist for the next two weeks. “It is a major fibre cut and information
from TEAMs indicates it may be rectified in 14 days.


Internet providers including Orange, Airtel, Warid, Utl and MTN have been some of the most affected but the damage has as
well disrupted connectivity for wireless and fixed users.

Airtel told Daily Monitor that the break down in the TEAMs and EASSy cables in Mombasa had disrupted connectivity.
However, Mr Chris Wood, the WIOCC chief executive officer – the EASSy mother company said the firm’s services had not been affected by the
damage of the Kenyan coast. He said: “Only the TEAMS cable was cut – Our cable (EASSy) is fine and functioning normally.”

Mr Themba M. Khumalo, the MTN Uganda chief executive officer, told Daily Monitor that the damaged cable had affected the entire
East African region. However, he said MTN had managed to keep its customers connected using other alternatives.

Original Article by Flavia Nalubega: The Monitor Newspaper.