Deputy MD Gamtel
By Buba Gagigo
The Deputy Managing Director of GAMTEL, Lamin Tunkara revealed that the backup link (cable) that connects Gambia to the outside world was cut by a company working for NAWEC which led to the general internet outage.
Yesterday, the country went for at least 6 hours without internet connection resulting to general disruption of services mainly dependent on internet.
“The country was down because the backup link that connects us with the outside world runs through (Farato), that’s what is disconnected by certain workers that are working with NAWEC, through the Gambia government contract were digging some poles here; and they happened to cut through our cables.”
Mr Tunkara acknowledged this is the third time such occurred due to NAWEC operations.
He described it as the most serious of the previous outages the country experienced.
“We had a cable cut.
We do experience things like this. But this particular one is of a higher magnitude, and has a hugely impacted the entire country.”
This is the second time in this year within a month The Gambia has witnessed a general internet outage. The first one occurred on the 1st of January, when the ACE cable was affected.