Slow Internet access (if any – in some cases, you can’t connect to sites without using a proxy) in South Africa… SEACOM has announced that the actual repair on the repeater in segment 9 will take only a few hours, though the full process may take at least 6 – 8 days. The ship is not out and mobilised yet. On their website, there is an update relating to the latest system failure:

At 09:19 GMT, 5 July 2010, SEACOM experienced a submarine failure resulting in service downtime between Mumbai and Mombasa. Current investigations indicate that a repeater has failed on segment 9 of the SEACOM cable, which is offshore to the north of Mombasa. This unexpected failure affects traffic towards both India and Europe. Traffic within Africa is not affected.

SEACOM has initiated emergency repair procedures to replace the repeater. Once mobilised, the repair ship is deployed to the location of the fault to pick up the cable. The cable is then brought on board to undergo the repair – the faulty element is replaced with a new repeater – before being put back in the water.

Whilst the repair process itself will only take a few hours, the overall process may last a minimum of 6-8 days. The actual duration is unpredictable due to external factors such as transit time of the ship, weather conditions and time to locate the cable. For this reason, the estimated duration of this repair remains uncertain.

SEACOM, in co-operation with individual clients, is actively seeking alternatives to restore service whilst the repairs are undertaken.

We can only sit and wait…