Incident report · 2026072601
West Africa Cable System (WACS): latency up to 2.2× normal, 26 Jul 2026
Resolved · 2h 29m
What we measured
| Cable | West Africa Cable System (WACS) |
| Segment | Yzerfontein, ZA → Seixal, PT |
| Detected | 2026-07-26 15:02 UTC |
| Resolved | 2026-07-26 17:31 UTC |
| Duration | 2h 29m |
| Observed latency | 149.2 ms |
| Baseline | 172.1 ms · 2.18× |
| Increase | +118% |
| Severity | warning |
Who is affected
Countries where West Africa Cable System (WACS) comes ashore, how much of their submarine diversity this cable represents, and what our measurements into them show.
| Country | Dependence on this cable | Other submarine cables | What the measurements show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angola resilience index: 80 · resilient |
1 of 5 cables (20% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, SAT-3/WASC, South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) +1 more | no measurement today; median 196 ms over 30 days (3 routes) |
| Cameroon resilience index: 58 · moderate |
1 of 5 cables (20% of submarine diversity) | Ceiba-2, Nigeria Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS), SAT-3/WASC +1 more | no measurement today; median 214 ms over 30 days (20 routes) |
| Cape Verde resilience index: 84 · resilient |
1 of 6 cables (17% of submarine diversity) | Cabo Verde Telecom Domestic Submarine Cable Phase 1, Cabo Verde Telecom Domestic Submarine Cable Phase 2, Cabo Verde Telecom Domestic Submarine Cable Phase 3 +2 more | average 159 ms over the last day vs 148 ms over 30 days - unchanged |
| Côte d’Ivoire resilience index: 49 · vulnerable |
1 of 6 cables (17% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne +2 more | no measurement today; median 158 ms over 30 days (42 routes) |
| Congo - Kinshasa resilience index: 78 · resilient |
1 of 5 cables (20% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Lake Albert 1, Lake Albert 2 +1 more | average 241 ms over 30 days |
| Ghana resilience index: 49 · vulnerable |
1 of 6 cables (17% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), Glo-1 +2 more | median 151 ms today vs 159 ms over 30 days (18 routes) - unchanged |
| Namibia resilience index: 33 · land links |
1 of 2 cables (50% of submarine diversity) | Equiano | |
| Nigeria resilience index: 67 · moderate |
1 of 8 cables (13% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), Equiano +4 more | median 213 ms today vs 176 ms over 30 days (84 routes) - slower |
| Portugal resilience index: 100 · resilient |
1 of 21 cables (5% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), Azores Fiber Optic System (AFOS) +17 more | median 84 ms today vs 89 ms over 30 days (613 routes) - unchanged |
| Congo - Brazzaville resilience index: 33 · land links |
1 of 2 cables (50% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa | average 165 ms over 30 days |
| South Africa resilience index: 100 · resilient |
1 of 14 cables (7% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE 1) +10 more | median 141 ms today vs 150 ms over 30 days (444 routes) - unchanged |
| Spain resilience index: 100 · resilient |
1 of 39 cables (3% of submarine diversity) | 2Africa, Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), Almería-Melilla (ALME) +35 more | median 82 ms today vs 82 ms over 30 days (294 routes) - unchanged |
| Togo resilience index: 37 · vulnerable |
1 of 3 cables (33% of submarine diversity) | Equiano, Maroc Telecom West Africa | average 39 ms over 30 days |
Dependence is structural (share of the country's submarine cables), not a traffic share: real traffic distribution across cables is not public.
Path analysis
Traffic kept the same route. Latency rose without a visible path change, which points at congestion or a fault on the existing route rather than a reroute.
Cross-probe verdict. Other measurements did not confirm the event. We treat this as a probable false positive and label it as such.
Timeline
- Alert 2026072601: warning - ratio 2.18x
- Alert #158 improving: 1/3 consecutive OK
- Alert #158 improving: 2/3 consecutive OK
- Alert #158 resolved: RTT 149.16ms (baseline 172.08ms), 3 consecutive OK
Detection method
Latency is sampled continuously from our probe network. An alert opens when round-trip time to a monitored endpoint holds above its rolling baseline, and closes automatically once it returns. Full method is described on the methodology page.
How to cite
GeoCables (2026). Incident 2026072601: West Africa Cable System (WACS). https://geocables.com/incident/2026072601
Embed this map
<iframe src="https://geocables.com/embed.php?type=map&id=west-africa-cable-system-wacs" width="640" height="420" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" style="border:0;border-radius:10px"></iframe>