As widespread internet outages grip West Africa, disrupting access since Thursday, March 14th, following the rupture of at least four undersea fiber optic cables, Ivory Coast stands out as one of the hardest-hit countries, with banking operations completely paralyzed. As of now, the cause of the issue remains unknown.
Ivory Coast bears the brunt of this massive outage: internet connectivity is only partially functional and severely sluggish. While fiber connections with Orange are currently down, messaging apps have seen a resurgence, reports our correspondent in Abidjan, Bineta Diagne.
Throughout Thursday, social media interactions were impossible, hailing a halt on ordering VTC rides and traditional banking transactions due to “lack of compensation via the BCEAO,” as per a source familiar with the matter. “There were no interbank transactions,” the source continued.
The daily lives of Ivorians are grinding to a halt. Both in private life and within enterprises, everyone relies heavily on the Internet. With 70% to 80% of users subscribed to Orange and MTN, both operators are at the epicenter of the issue. A rush occurred on Thursday towards Moov’s sales points, the sole operator unaffected by this outage.