My discussion on JoyNews TV in Ghana concerning a nationwide internet blackout and the associated issues of recovery.

1. The Issue:
Country-wide Disruption of Internet Connectivity
The Potential Cause:
Cable Fault (damage or malformed)
Commercial Undersea Telecommunication
Cables (CUTC)
The Potential Cause of Cable Fault:
- Natural Disaster (earthquakes, landslides, rockslides)
- Human Activity (Fishing, Anchoring, Dredging)
- Fish Bite (a.k.a shark attacks)
- Bad Actors (e.g. terrorist attack)
Israel.D.Esq

2. Israel.D.Esq

3. Guesstimate of Occurrence Over a 10-year period:
§ Very low probability (1 in 1000): Under optimal conditions with
minimal environmental risks and careful maintenance.
§ Low probability (1 in 100): Under typical conditions with
occasional risks such as minor seismic activity, fishing activity, or
natural wear and tear.
§ Moderate probability (1 in 50): In regions prone to frequent natural
disasters (such as earthquakes or underwater landslides) or areas
with heavy maritime traffic.
§ High probability (1 in 10): In regions with extreme environmental
conditions like strong underwater currents, frequent severe
weather events, or areas with significant industrial activity.
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4. Israel.D.Esq

5. How is Ghana affected?
§ Ghana has of 5 CUTC bringing capacity to its inland
carriers.
§ This includes SAT3, WACS, ACE, MainOne and Glo1
§ Currently 4 out of the 5 with exception of Glo-1 are down
§ The 4 down has Abidjan has its landing station or bay
§ The 1 up (i.e. Glo1) comes directly from the UK and splits to
Accra and Lagos.
§ It is noted that a is potential natural disaster (underwater
rockslide) has caused the cable fault. NB: The coast of
Abidjan is prone to lanslides.
§ Carriers in Ghana with exception of AT (AirtelTigo), are not
able to distribute the expected capacity to the last-mile
because of the undersea cable fault.
§ Other African countries affected include Cote D’Iviore,
Senegal, Benin, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroun.
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8. The Way Forward
§ Short Term
§ Pooling OR Peering (Subject to peering Agreements and Capacity but
Glo1 has 2.5 Tbps split between Ghana and Nigeria, The total capacity on
the 4 CUTC is approx. 6Tbps, also the inbound bandwidth into country as
at 2020 (per TelegGeography) is less than 1Tbps).
§ Repair damage cable within the estimated time of 5 weeks
§ Medium Term
§ Local IPX and physically hosted data centers with CDN capabilities
§ Encourage alternative service provisioning for personal and business
use (like satellite services).
§ Long Term
§ Cable Protection Standards (protection zones, spatial separations, cable
hotspots)
§ Alternative Landing Stations to avoid single point of failure
§ Exploring terrestrial cabling potentials
§ Explore the ITU Open-Access Architecture (peering-mandates, regulatory
backed interoperability)
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