SAT-3/WASC/SAFE began operations in 2001, providing the first links to Europe for West African internet users and, for South Africans, taking up service from SAT-2 which was reaching maximum capacity. SAT-2 had been brought into service in the early 1990s as a replacement for the original undersea cable SAT-1 which was constructed in the 1960s. In November 2007, no internet access was available through SAT-3 for about seven days in parts of central Africa. A government official from Cameroon blamed a technical failure at the underwater SAT-3 high sea fibre optic terminal, about forty kilometres from Douala. Many ISPs in Cameroon had transitioned their connections from independent satellite connections to SAT-3 in mid-2007 creating serious communication difficulties during the seven days. In late July 2009, SAT-3 cable damage caused internet blackouts in multiple west African countries including
Benin,
Togo,
Niger, and
Nigeria. Togo and Niger were "completely offline" and Benin was able to "reroute its net traffic through neighboring countries." However, the three nations were able to use alternative satellite links in order to maintain some Internet communication with the rest of the world. Nigeria suffered a 70% loss of bandwidth that caused problems in banking, government and other mobile networks. President of the
Nigeria Internet Group, Lanre Ajayi, said, "[the cable is] a critical national resource because of its importance to the economy and to security." Two weeks may pass before the cable is fixed. Nigeria portion of SAT3 cable was damaged in March 2016. On June 9, 2017, the link between
Pointe-Noire in- the
Republic of the Congo to the international cable was cut off by a fishing vessel forcing network providers to provide internet using
V-SAT. The cable was restored after 15 days.
Gabon,
Congo,
DRC and
Cameroon experienced internet disruption due to the rupture of the cable on 17 January 2020 off the coast of Gabon. It was fixed on January 27. On 6 August 2023, the cable system snapped simultaneously with the
WACS Cable System after a rock fall in the
Congo Canyon. Internet Speeds in
Sub-Saharan Africa were impacted, despite new cable systems such as Google Owned Equiano recently landing in the country. == Landing Points ==