Broadband users in the Caribbean affected by Subsea fibre break

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – Broadband Internet customers in several Caribbean countries are experiencing problems on Monday after their providers informed of a possible fibre fault between Antigua and the French island of Guadeloupe on the Xtera-Optima ECFS segment.

“Valued customers 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,” telecommunications company Digicel said in a statement.

“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and assure you that we are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” it added.

Cable and Wireless, which operates in the Caribbean as Flow, said that it could take several days to resolve the situation.

“Splicers and additional divers are arriving in Guadeloupe today. Guadeloupe fibre repair and restoration activity will commence tomorrow. This will be a temporary solution in order to quickly re-establish traffic connectivity. A tentative estimate time of repair of Thursday, December 10, has been provided,” it added.

Both providers said that broadband Internet may be unavailable for some time and that countries like Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados will experience service degradation.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.