Another cable break wrecks SA’s internet access, but a fix is on the way

wifi router south africa internet

No, it wasn’t just you, or because of the lockdown either. The internet across much of South Africa was slow this weekend thanks to yet another undersea cable break.

The WACS cable broke between the UK and Portugal this weekend, leaving much of the western portion of South Africa with longer load times and all-round slower internet during the initial days of the COVID-19 lockdown.

While some ISPs routed traffic along Africa’s eastern coastline cables, this didn’t solve latency issues for many.

Thankfully, a fix is on the way.

On Monday morning, RENAlerts announced that a vessel is on its way to perform repairs on the cable, located just off the coast of the UK.

The estimated repair date is 4 April.

The latest break comes after both the WACS and SAT-3 cables broke earlier this year, nearly crippling the country’s international internet access for more than two weeks.

Feature image: Andy Walker/Memeburn

Andy Walker, former editor
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