TheNewsGuru

Tag: internet

  • Reps advance bill to ensure free access to internet in public places

    A bill for an Act to provide legal framework for free internet access programme in selected public places in Nigeria and for related matters has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

    The bill which seeks to ensure free access to internet services for the underserved and disadvantage citizens especially in rural areas was sponsored by Rep. Abubakar Kusada at plenary on Thursday.

    Moving the motion earlier, Kusada recalled that the bill passed first reading on October 3, 2024.

    He said that the bill seeks to establish a clear and sustainable legal foundation for the provision of free internet services in selected public locations across the country.

    He said that as the digital connectivity becomes increasingly vital to national development, the bill seeks to institutionalise and regulate free internet access programmes that will enhance access to internet.

    “This bill provides a structure that enables collaboration between government, institutions and private sector partners while ensuring the security, accessibility and responsible use of public internet infrastructure.

    “The need for this legislation cannot be overstated, in today’s global landscape, internet access is not just a communication tool. It is an essential resource for education, employment, innovation and civic participation.

    “Unfortunately, millions of Nigerians, especially in rural and low-income communities, remain digitally excluded due to high data costs, limited infrastructure and lack of public access points.

    “This digital divide not only perpetuates inequality but also undermines national productivity and social mobility.

    “Providing internet services in public places offers a powerful way to bridge this gap, students will be able to access educational resources, conduct research and participate in online learning.

    “Job seekers could apply for opportunities, take online courses and connect with professional networks.

    “Small businesses owners and entrepreneurs will have a platform to promote their goods and services, engage in digital marketing and expand their customer base,” he said.

    Speaking against the bill, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers), said that he does not feel very comfortable with the provisions of the bill.

    He said that internet provision has been privatised which implies that governments will need to pay for the services.

    Chinda argued that provision of free internet should not have a legal framework to make it compulsory, but should be more of a policy.

    “Once we have a law such as this, what it means is that if government fails to provide it, government is going against the law that we have made.

    “If this has come as a way of motion to ask that free internet should be provided in certain public places, it would have been better.

    “So I will pray that the sponsor looks at it again, to bring this by way of motion, rather than passing a bill into law, making it compulsory for free internet provision,” he said.

    Also speaking, Rep. Wole Oke (APC-Osun), said that Internet provision had been concessioned to service providers and it came with a cost.

    He said that pubic places such as airport, parks, gardens among others in many countries and in some parts of Nigeria, enjoy free access to internet, but someone bears the cost on behalf of users.

    Similarly, if you go to some high institutions, both within Nigeria and outside this country, people also enjoy free internet services. But it comes at a cost.

    “So it is a good, noble idea but the issue is this: Who bears this cost? Who is going to pay? Yes, public places, parks, where you enjoy free internet services.

    “But I can tell you that the costs of such are already built into certain bills. When you enter a park, you pay and when you pay, you enjoy free internet.

    “You might think it is free, but actually somebody is bearing the cost to promote their businesses,” he said.

    On his part, Rep. Dennis Agbo (LP-Enugu), suggested that the cost should be shared among the internet providers and with the government.

    He said that it could be subsidised to ensure access to internet becomes available to people even at such rural places.

    In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen, preferred the bill to the relevant committees for further legislative consideration.

  • Iran cut off from global telecoms

    Iran cut off from global telecoms

    London-based NetBlocks organisation that monitors cybersecurity said Iranians are largely cut off from global communications after their internet went down.

    “Metrics show Iran has now been offline for over 12 hours as authorities impose a nation-scale internet shutdown, citing Israel’s alleged ‘misuse’ of the network for military purposes,”

    The non-profit organisation posted on X early on Thursday.

    The measure continued to hinder residents’ access to information at a critical time, it added.

    On Wednesday, Netblocks posted that live network data showed Iran was now in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout.

    The blackout followed a series of earlier partial disruptions and came amid escalating tensions with Israel after days of back-and-forth missile strikes.

    Earlier on Wednesday, the Tehran-based Mehr News Agency quoted a statement from the Communications Ministry that the restrictions followed “misuse of the national communications networks by the hostile aggressor for military purposes, jeopardising the life and property of innocent people.”

    Meanwhile, the Israeli military reported that its air force was currently hitting military targets in  Tehran.

    The reports came on the sixth day of strikes that began when Israeli jets hit Iranian military targets last Friday and amid continuing uncertainty over whether the United States will involve itself in military action to disrupt Iran’s nuclear arms programme.

  • Amazon’s first internet satellite liftoff suffers setback

    Amazon’s first internet satellite liftoff suffers setback

    The launch of Amazon’s first internet satellite aimed at challenging Elon Musk’s Starlink network has been postponed due to bad weather.

    Amazon was to launch the internet satellite through service provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA) as reported late on Wednesday.

    “A new launch date will be announced when approved,” ULA said.

    The satellite is part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which aimed to provide internet coverage via a constellation of around 3,200 satellites in the coming years.

    The planned launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida was set to carry 27 satellites into space aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket.

    Amazon has already secured rocket capacity for dozens of future launches to meet regulatory deadlines.

    Under its operating license, the company must deploy at least 1,600 Kuiper satellites by mid-2026.

    Rival company SpaceX, founded by Tesla boss,  Musk, was already a major player in satellite internet with its Starlink network.

    Satellite internet is attracting interest, not only from consumers and the military but also from airlines and telecom companies looking for affordable connectivity in remote or sparsely populated areas.

    Remote areas would not have to invest on costly ground-based infrastructure.

  • Telecom firms open up on barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria

    Telecom firms open up on barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has called on the Federal Government (FG) to address the infrastructural deficit, economic constraints and systemic challenges of broadband internet expansion.

    The association’s president, Mr Tony Emoekpere, made the call on Tuesday while speaking on ways to address the barriers and gaps in broadband connectivity.

    The Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 agenda on broadband internet includes increasing access to high-speed internet for the population. This is expected to cover an increase in speed with a minimum of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas.

    With the goals’ deadline fast approaching, and Nigerians’ continued experience of poor and weak internet becoming a norm, Emoekpere identified some lapses and ways of setting things in order.

    According to him, urban regions like Lagos are enjoying faster and more reliable connectivity compared to underserved rural areas, where infrastructure gaps persist.

    “The barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria reflect a combination of infrastructure deficits, economic constraints, and systemic challenges.

    “Addressing these is critical for achieving equitable digital inclusion and supporting the country’s economic growth,” Emoekpere said.

    The ATCON president affirms the gap in the deployment of broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

    “The limited penetration of fibre-optic networks and inadequate last-mile connections prevent equitable access to high-speed internet.

    “These gaps exacerbate the digital divide, leaving millions without meaningful connectivity. The affordability of internet access remains a critical issue.

    “Broadband services and devices are still too expensive for many Nigerians, especially those in lower-income brackets.

    “Moreover, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have faced stagnant tariffs for years despite increasing operational expenses and capital expenditure (CapEx) due to challenges such as rising energy costs and a depreciating naira,” he said.

    To improve the quality of internet connectivity, therefore, Emoekpere called for tariff adjustments and economic incentives for MNOs due to rising operational and capital costs.

    “MNOs should be permitted to implement controlled tariff increases to account for rising operational and capital costs.

    “In parallel, the government can provide tax breaks or subsidies to ease consumer affordability while ensuring operators can sustain their infrastructure investments,” the ATCON president said.

    On the frequent internet service disruptions, Emoekpere says connectivity reliability has been compromised by vandalism, fibre cuts during construction activities, and Nigeria’s inconsistent power supply.

    “Such disruptions not only affect service delivery but also lead to higher operational costs for telecom providers,” he said.

    The expert said there should be harmonised policies across state governments for consistency.

  • Nigeria rated fourth African country with fastest Internet speed

    Nigeria rated fourth African country with fastest Internet speed

    Nigeria ranked seventh among Sub-Saharan African countries for the fastest internet speed, behind Réunion, South Africa, Eswatini, Rwanda, Mauritius, and Botswana. This ranking comes from the 2024 Worldwide Broadband Speed Report released on Tuesday by Cable.co.uk.

     

    The report indicated that Nigeria has an average download speed of 27.62 megabits per second. In global rankings, Nigeria moved up from 133rd in 2023 to 132nd in 2024 out of 220 countries tested.

     

    In Africa, Réunion leads Sub-Saharan Africa with an average internet speed of 63.29 Mbps, while South Africa follows with 42.42 Mbps. Conversely, Sudan (4.02 Mbps, 223rd), the Central African Republic (4.08 Mbps, 222nd), and Ethiopia (4.45 Mbps, 221st) are among the ten countries with the slowest average network speeds worldwide.

     

    The report highlighted that the average internet speed in Africa is 14.99 Mbps, making it the region with the second-lowest internet speed globally. The Sub-Saharan African region, comprising 50 countries, averaged 14.99 Mbps in download speed, with nearly all countries in the bottom half of the global rankings. Exceptions included Réunion (63.29 Mbps, 75th), South Africa (42.42 Mbps, 114th), and Eswatini (37.23 Mbps, 120th).

     

    This development occurs as Nigeria works towards its National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020-2025, led by the Nigerian Communications Commission. While aiming for 70% broadband penetration by 2025, Nigeria had reached only 43.7% by December 2023.

  • Internet blackout: NCC seeks mechanisms to protect undersea cables

    Internet blackout: NCC seeks mechanisms to protect undersea cables

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for a coordinated and multilateral approach by the West African region to jointly protect shared telecommunications infrastructure, and diversify connectivity, to ensure uninterruptible Internet connections.

    Dr Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs at NCC made this known in a statement on Sunday, following recent undersea cable cuts that challenged Internet connectivities in the West African region.

    According to Muoka, the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, said this in a speech delivered at the 21st West Africa Telecommunications Regulatory Assembly (WATRA) Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

    He also said that Maida’s message at WATRA was delivered by NCC’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha.

    Maida said that “the recent submarine cable cuts that resulted in nationwide outages on multiple networks affected 12 African countries.

    “It had raised the urgent need for the subregion to establish a mechanism to protect itself from damage to submarine infrastructure and its attendant impact on the subregion.

    Maida referred to a report by Cloudflare, an IT service management firm, which indicates that about six countries, including four West African countries, still had outages caused by the submarine cable cuts.

    “Securing telecom infrastructure is paramount for fostering Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and enhancing investor confidence in the West African sub-region.

    “The reliability and resilience of telecommunications networks are crucial factors that investors consider when evaluating regional opportunities.

    “By ensuring the security of these vital assets, we can attract more investment, spur economic growth, and enhance our competitiveness on the global stage.

    “A secure telecoms infrastructure not only facilitates efficient communication and connectivity but also signals a commitment to safeguarding critical assets essential for business operations.

    “This assurance can significantly boost investor confidence and create a conducive environment for sustainable economic development.

    “The impact of events like cable cuts highlights the need for a coordinated, multilateral approach to protecting shared infrastructure across our member nations.”

    Maida also proposed the urgent need to set up a framework for joint monitoring, risk mitigation, and emergency response procedures for the submarine cables that pass through the sub-region.

    “Further to this, we recommend that the WATRA Working Group on Infrastructure expand its mandate to spearhead the development of a comprehensive strategy to safeguard the subregion’s telecommunications networks.

    “To also safeguard associated infrastructure thereby proactively bolstering resilience through improved disaster response protocols, to better insulate ourselves from future disruptions.”

    He said that the goals of the Working Group would be to strengthen sub-regional infrastructure resilience, promote the diversification of the sub-region’s connectivity, conduct regular capacity assessments.

    The statement explained that the Working Group would facilitate the designation of telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure in member countries.

    “The West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly was established in 2002 as a common platform for national telecommunication regulatory authorities in 16 member states.

    “To promote the adoption of regulations that stimulate investment in telecommunication infrastructure to deliver more affordable, accessible, faster and secure communication services to citizens.

    “At the 21st WATRA Annual General Meeting, issues pertaining to accessible and affordable telecommunication services in the sub-region were discussed, including improved consumer protection, quality of service, roaming and conflict resolution for consumers.

    “A major highlight of the AGM was the re-election of Nigeria’s Yusuf Aboki, as Executive-Secretary, for a second term in a unanimous vote by the member countries.”

    The statement noted that Aboki was commended for his firm, inclusive and visionary leadership, which saw the successful delivery of WATRA’s 2022 — 2025 Strategic Plan.

    Adding that Nigeria and indeed the sub-region were proud of the milestones he achieved during his first tenure.

    He further advised WATRA’s Executive-Secretary to build on the achievements of his first tenure, through stronger partnerships and deeper collaboration, while advancing the interests of the sub-regional body.

  • Cable force majeure in the international waters – By Okoh Aihe

    Cable force majeure in the international waters – By Okoh Aihe

    Faced with terribly hot weather that was complicated by the dearth of power supply across the nation, quite a number of phone users and big corporate players really got distraught last week when voice and data services simply went down. Tension spiked some more especially when this was happening at a time that food inflation was hitting over 37 per cent, with the troubling implications that the percentage of Nigerians able to afford a decent meal has further plunged.

    Things just really seem to go awry always. Nigeria seems to be happening to us all the time and the escape route looks inexorably sealed. No food. No light. Crazy heat. And now the internet is gone, not only making life difficult for people involved in online transactions and social media activities but even for the ordinary folks who, with very little data, can engage in non-stop internet voice communications.

    The financial institutions got a serious shaking and the little point of sale operator (PoS) by the street corner would not understand why transactions were failing. Some kind of inconvenient truth was emerging which nobody was ready to accommodate. Perhaps we could take everything that was thrown at us but not the failure of phones and the internet or even the dreary thoughts of returning to the banking halls for a transaction that could be processed seamlessly from the disappearing comfort of our homes.

    The first win here was for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms regulatory agency, which released a statement immediately, explaining that an underwater cable damage somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal was responsible for service disruptions in some West African countries, including Nigeria..

    In the statement titled, “Undersea Cable Cuts Disrupt Data, Voice Services along African West Coast, NCC informed that “A combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast, have negatively impacted on data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’ Ivoire, among others.

    “The cuts occurred somewhere in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, with attendant disruption in Portugal.

    “Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.”

    It was a cocktail of undersea cable damages, according to the NCC statement, as other cables like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG) and Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE1) have at some points suffered cuts leading to degraded services. Not a pleasant time at all.

    The other major win went to MainOne, the Nigerian company founded by digital exponent, Funke Opeke, which was snapped up for $320m by global digital infrastructure company, Equinix, in early 2022. Without denials, prevarications or even equivocations, MainOne  declared a force majeure – an unexpected and disruptive event that may operate to excuse a party from a contract. That’s the way the dictionary puts it.

    When we were in secondary school, we were told by our Economics teacher that force majeure could be caused by natural disasters, acts of war, unforeseen human activities and much more. In a subregion without earthquakes, hurricanes or even volcanoes, human destructive activities were more likely. So, people speculated. But not MainOne who promised to restore services within weeks, although fixing the problem was going to be a complex operation.

    “We believe it is important to inform our customers of the fault details given the magnitude of the situation in order to set expectations and make contingency arrangements while the repairs are ongoing,” MainOne alerted.

    The company immediately took responsibility which is indicative of my belief that the telecommunications sector still works irrespective of the persistent assault by some highly placed government personalities in the past eight years. Nobody abnegated responsibilities; not the NCC, not the MainOne company.

    You don’t want to juxtapose this with the power sector where nobody seems to be in charge or even be bold enough to accept responsibility for the sector which remains a complete disaster in it’s wooliness.

    For years, we were told the capacity for the sector is 12,000 megawatts of electricity. Only about 4000 megawatts is transmitted to the marketing companies who, on their own, are doing less than 3000 megawatts to their customers at the moment. The nation is not only in darkness but development activities remain at Stone Age era.

    And we deceive ourselves! The biggest economy in Africa. But just look down south. South Africa generates 58,095 megawatts of electricity from all sources, according to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, for a population of 60,845, 480, based on Worldometer estimates.

    Nigeria’s population is estimated at 227,513,006, based on United Nations projection since our country has not developed the capacity to conduct a reliable census! Over N200bn was shelled out for one recently, and nobody is punished for failures and criminal activities. Compare the energy output between Nigeria and South Africa, and we are decades apart!

    In telecoms, Nigeria can match any country in the world.  The industry remains our best foot forward. Right from the year 2001,  telecoms is one field Nigeria can speak and the world listens.

    Proof. As I write this material, the NCC on Monday said about 90 percent of services have been restored. Really, the problem has really been nearly resolved.

    “Following the disruption of March 14, 2024, which affected data and voice services due to cuts in undersea fibre optics along the coasts of Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, we are pleased to announce that services have now been restored to approximately 9 percent of their peak utilisation capabilities,” the Commission enthused.

    This means that since the date referred, the NCC has worked closely with the operators to ensure that a quick solution was provided to resolve the cable nightmare. This is what agile regulation stands for, being nimble in providing regulatory answers to complex problems of the industry, and scoring well even when a perfect score is nigh impossible.

    One other little lesson I think we have all learnt. The telecommunications industry is not just about the service providers, subscribers, base stations, underground cable and all that. It goes beyond that. The industry builds it’s nexus of activities on so many platforms, including the belly of the oceans – home to the undersea cables and the outer space which houses the satellites, both low flying ones and those domiciled at the geostationary orbit.

    The cable cut in the West African region is a  timely reminder that global peace is needed for humanity to carry on with its trade and that interconnections and interrelationships are so complex but seamless that a little headache in one small corner of the world could become a big migraine to the rest of the  global community.

  • JUST IN: Internet services affected by undersea cable cuts restored

    JUST IN: Internet services affected by undersea cable cuts restored

    Internet and voice services affected by undersea cable cuts have been restored by 90%, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports NCC made this known on Monday in a statement released by Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs.

    Due to cuts in undersea fibre optics along the coasts of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, Internet and voice services were badly affected in Nigeria and a number of other African countries.

    “We are pleased to announce that services have now been restored to approximately 90% of their peak utilisation capacities,” the telecoms regulators stated.

    According to NCC, all operators who were impacted by the cuts have taken recovery capacity from submarine cables which were not impacted by the cuts, and have thus recovered approximately 90% of their peak utilisation capacities.

    “Mobile Network Operators have assured the Commission that data and voice services would operate optimally pending full repairs of the undersea cables as they have managed to activate alternative connectivities to bring back the situation to normalcy,” NCC disclosed.

    TNG reports the undersea cable cuts that resulted in disruption to Internet and voice services occurred on March 14, 2024.

  • Undersea cable cut: MainOne begins restoration of Internet access

    Undersea cable cut: MainOne begins restoration of Internet access

    MainOne on Saturday said it had restored service to some customers and was actively working on restoring all services through capacity acquired on available cable systems.

    The organisation made this known via a statement on its website in response to news reports that it would take two weeks to five weeks for it to restore internet services.

    The statement said that the estimated repair time that it had earlier declared was for its submarine cable fault to be fixed.

    “The repair time is to enable our services to become fully restored and  independently supply capacity to  customers.

    “We have already restored services to some customers and are actively working on restoring services to others via capacity acquired on available cable systems,’’ the statement said.

    Earlier, MainOne said that it recognised the impact of the outage and was working tirelessly to make available restoration of capacity for temporal relief where feasible.

    ‘’We are very optimistic that our cable will be repaired as planned and services fully restored so that we can continue to operate with continued integrity of the submarine cable,” it said.

    Recall that the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) had said that the internet disruptions being experienced by organisations, banks, individuals were as a result of damage affecting major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.

    The NCC said that the damage was causing downtime across West and South African countries.

    It said that the cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.

    It said that cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe – had experienced faults, while SAT3 and MainOne had downtime.

    The regulatory body added that similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), were said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea.

    This, it said, resulted in degradation of services across these routes.

    In an earlier statement, MainOne had declared a force majeure on its contractual obligations while explaining steps to restore connectivity.

    The force majeure is an unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract.

    The unforeseen circumstances maybe natural disasters (fire, storms, floods), or governmental or societal actions (war, invasion, civil unrest, labour strikes), or infrastructure failures (transportation, energy).

    MainOne, an Equinix company, is one of the leading data centre and connectivity solution provider with presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

  • Undersea cable cut: How to reduce effect of Internet disruptions in Nigeria – ATCON

    Undersea cable cut: How to reduce effect of Internet disruptions in Nigeria – ATCON

    The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) says there is need to locally domicile content and put more investment in localised data centres to reduce the effect of disruptions in connectivity.

    The President of ATCON, Mr Tony Emoekpere, said this in Lagos, stressing that it was important to domicile content locally as this would make for prompt fixing of outages and disruptions.

    The ATCON president was reacting against the backdrop of the internet disruption that occurred on Thursday which had major effect on banks and Telcos in Nigeria and South Africa.

    Emoekpere revealed that most domiciled content in the country were not affected by the disruption.

    “Nothing can be done exactly to reduce damage of submarine cables, but most importantly, there is need to domicile more of our content locally.

    “Most domiciled content were not affected because such content were hosted on Data centres localised in the country.

    “There is need for investment in more data centres in the country to reduce the effect of internet disruption,’’ he told NAN.

    According to him, Nigeria and South Africa were the least affected because of more submarine cables coming into the country.

    Meanwhile in a statement released by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, confirmed the cut.

    NCC said a combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast had negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa.

    “Which includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire,” according to a statement signed by NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, NCC Mr Reuben Muoka.

    “The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.”

    “Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe – have experienced faults, while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime, according to NCC.

    “Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across these routes,’’ he said

    According to him, Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries.

    He said that operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored.

    “They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.”

    Also speaking to NAN, Senior Manager, External Relations, Mr Funsho Aina, said that a service had been restored.

    Telcos and banks had on Thursday experienced major internet disruption in the country.