South Africans who have been struggling with internet connectivity over the last three weeks will be pleased to hear that repairs to the West African Cable System are underway.
As expected the vessel carrying the repair crew – the Leon Thevenin – arrived at its destination on Tuesday evening.
The vessel then needed to transition to the WACS S1i cable ground which was completed this morning.
Repairs are currently underway but the estimated time of completion currently sits at 8th February according to the South African National Research and Education Network (SA NREN).
The transit to the WACS S1i cable ground is complete. Repairs are now underway by the Leon Thevenin. ETR remains 08 February 2020.
— SA NREN Operational Updates & Alerts (@RENAlerts) January 29, 2020
That means that service should be restored next week Saturday barring any other problems that arise in the interim.
Thankfully, South Africans have largely managed to remain online though slow speeds on some networks and services persist.
This is thanks to South Africa’s robust network of internet exchanges and redundancy in the form of multiple cables connecting us to the rest of the world.
We will continue to provide updates as to the state of repairs as and when they are made available.