Many South African Internet users are currently experiencing slow speeds when connecting to international websites.
This is due to the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and South Atlantic 3 (SAT3) international links reportedly being down, which affects customers of numerous South African ISPs.
These ISPs include Webafrica, Afrihost, and Mind The Speed, all of whom have posted network status updates citing the international cable outage as the cause of slow international connections.
“There is currently a major international outage affecting WACS and EASSy cable systems,” Mind The Speed stated.
“WACS (West Africa Cable System) and SAT3 international links are reported to be down at the moment. Webafrica as well as other ISP’s are affected by this confirmed cable break,” Webafrica said on Twitter.
WACS is a submarine cable which links South Africa with the United Kingdom. It has 14 landing points – 12 along the western coast of Africa and two in Europe.
The SAT3 cable links South Africa to Portugal and Spain, and also includes landing points at several West African countries.
It is not yet clear when the cable outages will be resolved and international Internet speeds will be returned to normal.
