A significant internet outage has struck 13 African countries, with Internet service providers reporting numerous disruptions to undersea cables, according to NetBlocks, an international Internet monitoring service.
"Live network data show today's telecoms disruption in Africa has intensified; the incident has high impact to West Africa with significant reductions in connectivity evident across the continent; operators report multiple subsea cable failures," the statement said.
NetBlocks indicated that the most severely affected country is Côte d'Ivoire, whose internet connectivity is currently operating at only 4% of its expected capacity.
Additionally, countries like Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso have also been severely affected by the outage, according to the monitoring group.
Liberia's telecommunications authority confirmed the internet outage, attributing it to a submarine cable failure in Côte d'Ivoire that left Liberians without access to basic internet services and social media applications.
Mobile operators in Liberia have issued alerts to customers about the issue, warning of disruptions to mobile money services, the media said.
The drop in Internet speeds was also reported by the South African media.