Leadership (Abuja)
20 November 2008
The Nigerian Telecommunications Limited said it has fixed the damaged South Atlantic Terminal 111 (SAT-3) cable and fully restored SAT-3 services.
A statement from the Deputy General-Manager, Corporate Communication of NITEL, Sule Shehu, said the repairs and restoration of the underwater cable was fixed at the weekend.
SAT-3 is the main cash-cow for NITEL, and its breakdown means that the company is losing much-needed revenue.
The cable, which was damaged on October 15, has disrupted internet connections in Nigeria, thereby forcing big businesses to turn to back-up satellite communications.
About three weeks ago, NITEL management invited some foreign firms to assist it fix its damaged facility.
The Chief Executive Officer of NITEL, Mr Kevin Carusom, however, expressed delight at the quick resolution of the damage and subsequent restoration of the services to customers.
"I am quite delighted to announce the repair of SAT-3 cable and the subsequent restoration of SAT-3 services to our customers. With the restoration, internet and gateway connectivity are now open and optimised", the CEO said.
According to Caruso, NITEL management has put some mechanisms in place to further prevent the cable from future damage and attendant disruption of services. "Our investigation into the causes and consequences of the damage is on-going and will assist us in our quest for uninterrupted services provision", he said.
A statement from NITEL further stated that since October when the cable suffered failure, all services were lost to SAT-3 customers. "Testing and faulting procedures were immediately commenced by NITEL, together with the SAT-3 NOC and Alcatel Marine that located the source of the problem to 46 kilometers into the sea and at the depth of over 1.3 kilometers", it said.
According to the management, subsequent to the location of the source of the problem, NITEL mobilised the cable ship, named CS Channel, duly equipped with facilities and experts to complement the requisite in-house facilities and the team of technical experts from NITEL, Alcatel and NOC, charged with fixing the fault and restoring the services
Before now, NITEL was Nigeria's main telecommunication service provider with over 500,000 fixed lines but has been on the decline since the advent of GSM technology in 2001.
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