Ghanaians on edge, await Internet restoration

Millions of Ghanaians continue to wonder in frustration and apprehension, awaiting the full restoration of internet services to bring their business and social lives to normalcy, but technical experts suggest it may take at least five weeks to fully restore local internet service.

With most businesses, communal life, government and non-governmental organisations, and even the national security system depending largely on the usage of internet data, the five-week minimum repair period towards restoration of full internet service as announced by the National Communications Authority (NCA) is creating uneasiness.

Currently, online access to purchase plane tickets, digitalised hospital folders, security data, purchases and payment of electricity and waters bills on the system apps, and various forms of bank transactions have either slowed down or not functioning altogether.

There are fears that the financial, job and other losses associated with the current situation could reach unimaginable levels.

Some organisations, especially financial institutions that could readily afford are resorting to the services of satellite-based internet services.

In its latest updates, the NCA said it recognised the impact the disruptions had had on economic, academic and social activities, and assured the public of its commitment to continue collaborating with relevant stakeholders.

“We expect some improvement in data services in the coming days while the operators work around the clock to restore full connectivity,” the NCA said in a statement.

It said following a crunch meeting with all four subsea cable landing service providers and the three local mobile network operators (MNOs), there was now some clarity about the exact location of the damage, and that preparations were underway to dispatch repair vessels to the location for physical assessment and restoration.

“Based on the above, the subsea cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five weeks for full service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations,” it said in the statement.

The NCA encouraged MNOS, internet service providers and all other providers to actively participate in the operations of the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX) in order to ensure an efficient local content delivery and a seamless internet traffic exchange locally.