South Africa's slow internet: First broken cables could be fixed two days ahead of schedule

Jay Caboz , Business Insider SA

Feb 04, 2020, 02:07 PM

The Leon Thevenin. Supplied by Orange Marine.

The Leon Thevenin could complete its first set of repairs, at the Wacs undersea cable, two days early, according to Openserve.
Once repaired the vessel can travel on to offshore Ghana, to a section of the Sat-3/Wasc cable - expected repair completion 17 February.
And then proceed to a second break location of the Sat-3/Wasc cable - expected repair completion 25 February.
For more stories, visit Business Insider South Africa.

The Leon Thevenin, the cable repair ship tasked with fixing the broken undersea cables which have brought slow internet in South Africa, could complete the first set of repairs at the West African Cable System (Wacs) two days early, according to Openserve.

In conversation with the Chief of Mission on board the Leon Thevenin, Openserve said repairs are currently underway on one of the affected segments of the Wacs cable off the coast of Congo and is nearing completion.

As it stands, the vessel is due to depart to its next repair destination on 6 February 2020. This departure is 2 days earlier than originally planned, reports Openserve.

Leon Thevenin was tasked with repairing Wacs and the South Atlantic 3/West Africa (Sat-3/Wasc) which went down in the early hours of Thursday, 16 January 2020. It set sail from Cape Town on January 23 after being stuck in port due to high winds.

The previous estimated time of return was put at February 8, a work time of 11 days, state-owned telecommunications company, Broadband Infraco, said in a tweet.

Once repaired, the vessel will travel on to offshore Ghana to attend to the repair of a section of the Sat-3/Wasc with an anticipated repair completion by 17 February. And then proceed to another break location of the Sat-3/Wasc cable set to be completed around 25 February.

*This is a developing story.