“In an era driven by digital connectivity, the recent events involving the unprecedented damage to three of South Africa’s major west coast undersea cables have thrust the country into a precarious position” Paul Colmer, exco member at Wireless Access Provider’s Association (WAPA) said.
The disruption of critical undersea cables, Western African Cable System (WACS), South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3), and now African Coast to Europe (ACE), has highlighted the vulnerability of the country's internet infrastructure and exposed potential risks that could have far-reaching consequences.
This is compounded by the fact that the only vessel capable of repairing these cables is currently situated 8,800 kilometres away, on Africa’s east coast, which means the soonest repair timeframe is mid-September – assuming favourable weather conditions.
“As we navigate the intricate web of international connectivity, it's therefore imperative to address the challenges that threaten to disrupt our digital lifelines”, Colmer said. Many service providers have responded to the disruption created by the three cable breaks. Corridor Africa’s CEO Matone Ditlhake says that as a direct consequence of these cable outages, South African network operators have grappled with increased strain on their network capacities, leading to heightened traffic volumes and challenges in promptly addressing these issues.
Service providers vary in their dependence on the affected cables, leading to discrepancies in the severity of disruptions experienced. Consequently, some entities may encounter more significant impacts than others. Despite these concerted efforts, it's important to note that websites hosted in the US or Europe may still experience delays or service failures when accessed from South Africa, and vice versa, owing to the reduced international capacity. Internet service providers are diligently labouring to restore full capacity while concurrently embarking on the extensive repair process, which is estimated to span several weeks.
"We sincerely appreciate the understanding and patience exhibited by South African internet users during this period of inconvenience. Rest assured, every possible effort is being exerted to expedite the restoration process and enhance internet connectivity throughout the region”, Ditlhake said.
Fragile links in the chain
The sudden downtime of WACS and SAT-3 has sent shockwaves through the tech landscape. While SAT-3 carries a modest 800 gigabits per second (Gbps) of traffic, WACS carries a colossal 14.5 Terabits per second (Tbps), and the fragility of these cables' redundancy systems has become apparent. "The incident underscores the critical importance of diversification and redundancy within our connectivity architecture", Paul Colmer", said.
Unravelling the intricacies of these disruptions reveals a vulnerability that extends deep beneath the ocean's surface. The underlying cause, a rockfall in the Congo Canyon, a very deep undersea trench, has left us grappling with the reality that even well-armoured cables are not impervious to natural forces. WACS, for instance, comprises only four pairs of fibre amid its robust armour.
This calls for a strategic shift in our approach to safeguarding the vital links in our digital ecosystem and reminds us of the importance of resilience in our digital infrastructure. As we march toward an increasingly interconnected future, lessons learned from these disruptions should not be dismissed lightly.
The commissioning of the Google Equiano cable, boasting a massive 144 Tbps capacity, provides a glimmer of hope. Yet, the fact that this cable was only commissioned in March and not yet fully integrated into our network highlights the importance of proactive planning and adaptation.
Total communication black out?
While there is a fair amount of satellite connectivity available and used by many internet service providers as a back-up in events of cable breaks, Colmer suggest that we could face a total communication black out referring to the Carrington Event of 1859, named after Richard Carrington, the astronomer who first recorded a solar storm-induced catastrophe, indeed a sobering analogy.
Could the same electromagnetic vulnerabilities that rendered telegraph systems inoperable during that event apply to our undersea internet cables? There is no scientific evidence that it could be the case but there is enough evidence that it could disrupt satellite communication.
Submarine cables broken and satellite communication disrupted by a massive solar storm, not a scenario one wants to contemplate about!
Sub-marine cable operators need urgent look at their recovery plans.
The Undersea cable operators must have a serious look at how to better deal with cable breaks. There is currently only one repair vessel available to serve both the West and East coast of Africa which is totally inadequate given the large number of cables on both sides of the continent and what seems frequent unstable conditions.
More Science needed.
Could the science community intensify their study of earthquakes, rock falls and other events such as abnormal sea currents and find a way to predict unfavourable conditions that could lead to cable breaks?
