Workers haul a fibre-optic cable, which will serve East Africa, to shore at the Kenyan port town of Mombasa in 2009Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Somalia’s government says an ongoing internet outage is costing the country $10m (£7.7m) each day.
The outage affects southern Somalia, and was caused by damage to an undersea fibre-optic cable more than two weeks ago.
Somali Post and Telecommunications Minister Abdi Anshur Hassan has called the incident a “major disaster”, costing Somalia “more than $130m”.
He said the cable was being fixed and service will be restored “this week”.
After more than 20 years of conflict, internet usage is low in Somalia, with just 1.6% of the population online in 2014, according to estimates by the International Telecommunication Union.
That same year, 3G mobile phone services in southern Somalia were cut off because of a threat from al-Shabab Islamist militants and the ban has stayed in place ever since.
Satellite internet is available, but users complain that it is costly and slow.
Internet cafes have therefore proved popular in towns and cities, as they provide more reliable connectivity.
Somalia's government says a widespread internet outage that began roughly two weeks ago is costing the Horn of Africa nation about $10 million each day and is a "major disaster." The post and telecommunications minister, Abdi Anshur Hassan, told a press conference Saturday that Somalia has lost more than $130…
Somalia’s internet has returned after an outage of more than three weeks cost the Horn of Africa nation about $10 million a day, authorities said Monday. Hormuud Telecom, the country’s largest telecom company, announced the restoration of service in a message to subscribers. The loss of internet service sparked anger…
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A severed marine cable has left Somalia without internet for weeks, triggering losses for businesses, residents said, and adding a layer of chaos in a country where Islamist insurgents are carrying out a campaign of bombings and killings. Abdi Anshuur, Somalia's minister for posts and telecommunications, told…
