Cameroon’s state-run telecom provider, Camtel, confirmed on Thursday that a technical fault in undersea cabling near Limbe was responsible for a sweeping internet outage that disrupted connectivity across the country, just days before the announcement of presidential election results.

In a statement issued Thursday evening, Camtel attributed the blackout to a malfunction in the West Africa Cable System (WACS) at Batoke, a coastal town in the Southwest region. The disruption, which began early on October 23, left users from Yaoundé to remote northern communities without access for hours, triggering a wave of complaints on social media and local radio.

“Technical teams have been mobilized, and thanks to mitigation measures, service is gradually being restored in certain areas,” the company said, pledging continuous updates and round-the-clock repairs until “traffic is fully restored and secured.” Camtel also issued an apology for the inconvenience and reaffirmed its commitment to improving service reliability amid a digital economy growing at an estimated 15 percent annually.

The timing of the outage has fueled speculation, with some users questioning whether the blackout was linked to the imminent release of election results. Preliminary counts reportedly favor incumbent President Paul Biya, but opposition parties have raised concerns about vote irregularities. Camtel dismissed any suggestion of intentional disruption, maintaining that the outage was purely technical. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications echoed the explanation, and no evidence has emerged to suggest deliberate throttling.

Undersea cables like WACS, which has connected Africa to Europe since 2012, carry the bulk of Cameroon’s internet traffic—up to 80 percent—making them a critical yet vulnerable component of the country’s digital infrastructure. Similar faults in the past, such as a 2023 break off Angola, have caused prolonged regional outages.

By midday Thursday, partial service had resumed in several urban centers, according to user reports on WhatsApp and other platforms. Rural areas, which often rely on satellite backups, experienced slower recovery.

The incident highlights persistent fragilities in Cameroon’s $1.5 billion telecommunications sector. While mobile penetration has reached 70 percent among the country’s 28 million people, broadband access remains limited at around 40 percent. Camtel, which controls the nation’s sole international gateway, has faced mounting pressure to open infrastructure to private competitors like MTN and Orange. However, the state monopoly has so far resisted calls for liberalization.

As the nation awaits final election results, the outage has underscored the stakes of digital resilience in a politically sensitive moment. With connectivity gradually returning, attention now turns to whether the disruption was a one-off technical failure—or a symptom of deeper systemic vulnerabilities.