West Africa Cable Resilience Warning

The West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA) has issued a stark warning about the fragility of West Africa's $100-$150 billion digital economy due to inadequate submarine cable resilience. Executive Secretary Aliyu Aboki highlighted that a series of simultaneous cable disruptions in March 2024, affecting major systems like West Africa Cable System, Africa Coast to Europe, MainOne Cable, and SAT off the coast of Ivory Coast, exposed critical vulnerabilities. These outages led to over 50% drops in internet traffic in countries like Nigeria and Ghana, causing significant operational disruptions for banking systems, fintech platforms, and cloud services. WATRA emphasizes that the region's limited redundancy, fragmented regulatory policies, and high repair costs (up to $8 million for complex cases) exacerbate the problem. The organization is advocating for urgent reforms, including harmonized regulations, improved emergency response, and sustainable financing models, to safeguard West Africa's economic growth and attract investment.