In a fresh announcement related to the undersea cable restoration mission, the cable vessel Leon Thevenin is said to have departed Cape Town harbour on 22 January 2020 and is heading for offshore Angola.

This is where the first steps of the physical repair on damaged undersea cables – South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT3/WASC) and the West African Cable System (WACS), according to Openserve.

In its latest statement, the company said: "Following delays caused by weather conditions last weekend, loading of the vessel with all gear and material required for the undersea cable repairs was completed by 17:40 yesterday. The Leon Thevenin then set sail from South African shores with Chief of Mission, Didier Mainguy and 53 other crew members on board. A Senior Representative from the WACS and SAT3 consortium forms part of the ship's crew."

The vessel is expected to reach its first repair site on 28 January 2020 – "weather conditions permitting," Openserve added.

Leon Thevenin was dispatched by the Maintenance and Operations Sub-Committees of the SAT3/WASC and WACS consortia due to a simultaneous dual cable break that occurred in the early hours of last Thursday, 16 January 2020.

"The breaks have resulted in South African internet users, whose ISPs are connected to international connectivity on both or either of these cable systems, experiencing reduced speed on international browsing and in some cases increased latency. There is also impact on international voice calling and mobile roaming," Openserve stated.

The company said it will continue to maintain interface with the consortiums and their OEM partners until both cable systems are up and running again.