By: Gloria Amoh
The National Communications Authority (NCA) has highlighted the difficulty in determining the cause of recent cuts in undersea fibre optic cables, crucial for internet connectivity in the country.
The Director General of the National Communications Authority(NCA), Dr. Joe Anokye has hinted of plans by Mobile Network Operators(MNO) to offer compensation to subscribers for losses incured due to the recent internet disruptions in the country.
He explained that, the Mobile Network Operators are independent entities and will need to make decision before the Authority can consider it. Since Thursday March 14, the Mobile Network Operators have been disrupted due to cuts in the undersea fibre optic cables which are essential for internet connectivity in the country.
In a response to a question about whether subscribers will be compensated during an interview, he stated that, “these 4 cables in Ivory Coast, Cote D’Ivoire, ACE, one of them is called Ace. That’s the one closer. it’s about 118km or so. Between that cable and the next cable is about 11 kilometres and just to put it in context, you know, 11 kilometres is from, like, you know, the general post office to Accra Mall”.
“The distance between that cable SAT-3 and the next cable, which is the main one, is allegedly to be about 67 kilometers, which is like from Accra Mall to Suhum. And all 3 were compromised. The distance between Main One and WACS, it’s also 77 kilometers. This is Suhum to Nkawkaw. So it is very difficult to determine exactly what happened”, he mentioned.