News / National
Zimbabwe's internet still slow after cable damage
06 Mar 2012 at 15:34hrs | Views
Internet users in Zimbabwe, including Internet Service Providers (ISP's) served by TelOne, are still getting slow and intermittent internet service, three weeks after two separate shipping accidents severed a crucial internet and phone link for the region.
In one of the accidents, a ship dragging its anchor off the coast of the Kenyan port city of Mombasa severed an undersea cable that cut off some nine African countries, including Zimbabwe. Repairs are still underway amid concerns it could take engineers up to a month to complete the work.
Another cable severed in two is known as EASSy and is owned by the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC). The WIOCC is jointly owned by 14 major telecom operators in Africa, including Zimbabwe's TelOne. Experts say Zimbabwe has been hardest hit by the accident which cut the cable.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us internet speeds during the day were now slow and many people were waiting to go online in the evening when speeds appeared faster. Technology website Tech Zim report that other internet providers, using alterative international cables, have not been affected.
Tech Zim quoted sources who said: "Liquid Telecom and PowerTel, the other two international bandwidth resellers in Zimbabwe, have not been affected by the EASSy outage or the increased load on SEACOM (another cable) due to traffic from the failed cables that's been rerouted to it."
The company responsible for the EASSy cable however is not happy with the press reports and believe the media are exaggerating the impact. The company said although the cable suffered a cut it only affected, "the section of cable between Port Sudan and Djibouti…and impact on customers has been minimal."
But Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Nelson Chamisa told SW Radio Africa that his ministry was inundated with complaints from people complaining about poor internet speeds: "I have instructed officials in my ministry to get in touch with those responsible to speedily resolve the problem."
In one of the accidents, a ship dragging its anchor off the coast of the Kenyan port city of Mombasa severed an undersea cable that cut off some nine African countries, including Zimbabwe. Repairs are still underway amid concerns it could take engineers up to a month to complete the work.
Another cable severed in two is known as EASSy and is owned by the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC). The WIOCC is jointly owned by 14 major telecom operators in Africa, including Zimbabwe's TelOne. Experts say Zimbabwe has been hardest hit by the accident which cut the cable.
Tech Zim quoted sources who said: "Liquid Telecom and PowerTel, the other two international bandwidth resellers in Zimbabwe, have not been affected by the EASSy outage or the increased load on SEACOM (another cable) due to traffic from the failed cables that's been rerouted to it."
The company responsible for the EASSy cable however is not happy with the press reports and believe the media are exaggerating the impact. The company said although the cable suffered a cut it only affected, "the section of cable between Port Sudan and Djibouti…and impact on customers has been minimal."
But Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Nelson Chamisa told SW Radio Africa that his ministry was inundated with complaints from people complaining about poor internet speeds: "I have instructed officials in my ministry to get in touch with those responsible to speedily resolve the problem."
Source - swradio
