By Telecom Paper

Serious damage has been caused to the 15,000-km undersea SAT-3 cable, which has resulted in major disruption to West African internet access and services, the BBC reports. Several countries, including Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria, have all been hit hard. The cable itself runs between Europe (Portugal and Spain) to South Africa, via West Africa. Ladi Okuneye, chief marketing officer of Nigerian operator Suburban Telecom, noted that SAT-3 is currently the only fibre-optic cable serving West Africa.