TNM Restores Internet After Undersea Cable Cuts
Marketing Director Sobhuza Ngwenya said TNM has extended the validity period for internet data bundles bought during the period of intermittent service and will dish out free data bundles to customers
BLANTYRE, Malawi — Malawian mobile network operator TNM Plc has said its engineers beat the deadline to restore internet services disrupted by cuts to undersea fiber cables, writes Eunice Chitika
The submarine cables in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean have since February been subjected to cuts due in part to warfare in the Middle East.
The latest cut on May 12 affected over 80 million customers in East Africa, and the impact escalated to Malawi and Mozambique.
But in a swift emergency response, TNM Chief Executive Officer Michel Hebert told the press in Blantyre that the telco's engineers fixed the problem, which would have ordinarily taken weeks, in a record three days.
"Such cable cuts are extremely rare but when they happen, they take weeks to repair. Like most mobile network service providers, TNM Plc was affected by these cuts as we depend on the upstream bulk sea cable carriers to connect and host Internet subscribers on our network platform," Hebert said.
He said TNM, listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange, has invested about K4 billion to buy additional fiber cable routes to provide resilience in case of future incidents.
Chief Technical Officer Lloyd Gowera said the company acquired new routes from MTN Zambia, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO), Mozambique's MCel, and Telecom Namibia.
Marketing Director Sobhuza Ngwenya said TNM has extended the validity period for internet data bundles bought during the period of intermittent service and will dish out free data bundles to customers based on their usage.
"TNM assures its customers that out of an emergency, we have built a more resilient and less-latent Internet network that will guarantee the best internet service experience and value for money offer in Malawi," Ngwenya said.