William Allen Simpson wrote:
By the map in the article, the termini are Spain and Portugal on one end, and South Africa on the other. Surely, a single break wouldn't affect both ends....
A week later article by the BBC says it didn't. Rather, the Benin branch has the break. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8176014.stm "The rest of the system is unaffected by this fault," a Telkom South Africa representative said.
And the landings to Benin and Nigeria seem to be different (at least they have different numbers), so that's probably the break (between them).
The Nigerian telco Nitel hasn't paid its dues, so its branch has been shut off, and most of Nigeria runs through Benin. Apparently, there is peering, and Benin is currently running "through neighbouring countries...." Sounds like this happenstance will provide motivation for more peering and cooperation.