Submarine Cable Outages Expose Fragility of West Africa’s $150bn Digital Economy — WATRA

The West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly has raised fresh concerns over the resilience of West Africa’s digital infrastructure, warning that repeated submarine cable disruptions are exposing critical vulnerabilities in a regional digital economy valued at up to $150 billion.

Speaking at the International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit in Porto, Portugal, WATRA Executive Secretary Aliyu Aboki said recent outages have highlighted the region’s limited capacity to withstand major connectivity shocks.

He referenced the widespread disruptions recorded in March 2024, when multiple undersea cables off the West African coast were damaged simultaneously, crippling internet connectivity across several countries.

Despite the presence of major cable systems such as West Africa Cable System, Africa Coast to Europe cable, and MainOne cable system, the incident caused internet traffic in affected countries to plunge by more than 50 per cent, disrupting banking services, cloud-based operations, and digital businesses for days.

“Submarine cables are not just telecom infrastructure—they are the backbone of economic activity,” Aboki said, noting that over 95 per cent of global internet traffic runs through undersea cables.

The outage exposed deeper structural challenges. While cable networks span multiple countries, regulatory systems remain fragmented, with differing national rules on permits, emergency response, and cable protection. This mismatch, Aboki explained, often leads to delays in repairs, including customs bottlenecks and limited access to ports.

The financial implications are significant. With West Africa’s combined GDP estimated at over $800 billion, disruptions translate directly into failed transactions, reduced productivity, and weakened investor confidence.

Repair costs also remain high. According to WATRA, fixing a single cable fault can cost between $1.5 million and $2 million, largely due to the need to deploy specialised vessels from distant locations such as Cape Town. In complex scenarios involving multiple cable failures, costs can rise to as much as $8 million.

Aboki called for urgent regional coordination among WATRA’s 16 member states, urging governments to treat submarine cable resilience as a shared public good.

He outlined key priorities, including harmonised regulations, faster permitting processes, pre-agreed emergency repair protocols, and improved data sharing on outages and recovery timelines.

“The challenge is not just to build more cables, but to build systems that are durable, financeable, and regionally coherent,” he said.

The warning comes as businesses across West Africa continue to rely heavily on real-time connectivity, with limited redundancy compared to more mature markets—leaving the region’s fast-growing digital economy increasingly exposed to infrastructure shocks.