South African internet service provider (ISP) MWEB Business on Tuesday sent out text messages to its customers warning them of connectivity issues as thousands tuned in online to watch the live streaming of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service.

ITWeb Africa reported on Tuesday that at one point over 50,000 viewers were watching YouTube live streaming of the memorial via the country’s major television news networks.

And in a bid to warn customers of the high demand, MWEB Business sent SMS messages to its customers telling them of “connectivity and performance issues on ADSL & other platforms including other ISP & networks are due to high traffic volumes @ this time.”

Another SMS from MWEB Business on Tuesday read: “due to high traffic volumes, national & international connectivity & performance to networks & ISP platforms is affected @ this time.”

Debbie Pretorius, general manager of MWEB Business, has told ITWeb Africa that her company sent out a precautionary notice prior to the memorial service, which saw dignitaries such as US President Barack Obama speaking at the event.

Pretorius has further told ITWeb Africa that no outages occurred on Tuesday for MWEB Business.

“However, generally speaking the internet in SA was busier than usual because of the interest in the event at FNB Stadium and the fact that a lot of people were watching it via video streaming,” Pretorius has told ITWeb Africa.