A number of business along with individuals have reported difficulty accessing their internet services from all corners of the country. Some schools have even had to suspend online classes because of a lack of internet access, as a result of a major broadband outage.
The country’s two main providers FLOW and Digicel have reported been severely impacted by a major ‘fibre fault” on an underground cable. Customers will experience challenges browsing the internet, loading emails, sending and receiving WhatsApp messages along with making landline calls.
A broken underwater fibre cable between Antigua and Guadeloupe is suspected to be the reason for the outage. A statement by Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) stated:
“CWC advises of a possible fibre fault between Antigua and Guadeloupe on the Xtera-Optima, ECFS.”
Digicel customers in Barbados and St. Vincent are also affected by this outage.
FLOW stated it could take some time before services are fully restored. Information from the company’s network operations centre estimate full repair will be completed by Thursday, because damage to the underwater cables appears to be “major”.
They indicated that a temporary solution is currently being put in place. While internet will return, customers are likely expected to encounter unstable connections with dropouts until the situation is rectified.
Digicel informed its customers moments ago via its Facebook page.“Valued customer, We are aware that some of you may be experiencing an outage with your internet services. Preliminary investigations indicate that the cause is a technical issue with our international upstream internet suppliers which is affecting multiple internet providers across the Caribbean.”
