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Internet outage costs Somalia Sh1 billion daily

cable

Arrival of the EASSY undersea cable at the coast of Kenya in 2009: Somalia says it's doing its best to restore internet services to the country. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

Somalia says it is losing $10 million (around Sh1 billion) daily as a result of an outage that has disrupted business and State services in the southern and central regions.

"The average loss that lack of internet services is about $10 million per day. We lost $130 million (about Sh13.5 billion) only in the past two weeks after missing the services which was the lifeline of our people," Minister for Posts, Telecommunication and Technology Eng Abdi Anshur Hassan said yesterday.

He said that the government is doing its best to restore internet services to the Horn country as soon as possible.

The outage, caused by a fault in the undersea cable serving Somalia, has sparked outrage in Mogadishu and across the country with many businesses counting losses.

The media, business community and government offices are faced with difficulties in managing their daily work due to the disruption.

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"I have remained jobless due to lack of internet service. I have lost $1,300 (about Sh135,000) in the past two weeks," Abdirashid Moalim Yusuf, a web developer, told Xinhua in Mogadishu.

Yusuf added that he made attempts to find alternative network services but failed to get it, expressing deep concern on the current situation.

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CBK key indicative rate used: $1 = Sh103.835