Experiencing slow internet connectivity? This is why

South Africans have been facing sluggish internet connectivity due to ongoing repairs on the West Africa Cable System (Wacs). The maintenance work on Wacs commenced at 2 am on Sunday, 1 June, and is expected to be completed by 8 am on Monday, 16 June 2025.

The Wacs is a vital 14,530km submarine cable system that carries internet traffic, connecting 15 countries from South Africa to London. It serves as a crucial link between South Africa and the South Atlantic Cable System (Sacs), which terminates in Angola. With a design capacity of 14.5Tbps, the cable system runs from Portugal to a landing station in Yzerfontein, Western Cape.

During the maintenance period, the affected section of Wacs is offline, causing a slowdown in internet connectivity as data traffic cannot flow through it. While many internet service providers in South Africa have backup capacity to mitigate the impact of the outage, some users have experienced significant disruptions.

The maintenance activity is aimed at resolving a low voltage issue affecting the power supply units on the Swakopmund Power Feeding Equipment. The problem has been traced to a faulty Branching Unit in Namibia, necessitating its replacement to restore normal operation.

Wacs will remain offline throughout the maintenance period, with the schedule subject to change based on weather conditions. Robert Kraai, Openserve’s global carrier business development and operations specialist, reported that a repair ship has successfully recovered the faulty branching unit off the coast of Namibia.

The next steps involve replacing the faulty unit with a new one and conducting tests to ensure its proper functioning. Kraai is closely monitoring the repair progress to ensure the timely restoration of Wacs’ full operational capacity.

Despite the inconvenience caused by the maintenance work, it is essential to conduct these repairs to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the Wacs submarine cable system. Users are advised to exercise patience and understanding during this period of reduced internet connectivity in South Africa.