African Undersea Cables

Update Nov 2012
French version now available.  Cliquez ici pour la version française.
There is also a map showing only the cables that are currently live.
Sub-saharan Undersea Cables in 2014 - maybe (version 34)

Please contact me if you’d like a copy of the map in SVG format.

For a history of African undersea cables, have a look at this presentation. If you’re interested in seeing how these cables are changing access, Stanford University’s PINGer project is monitoring the impact of Seacom and other east coast cables as they come online. Also check out the UbuntuNet Alliance’s map of terrestrial fibre in Africa. Finally, for a more comprehensive look at undersea cables, check out Greg Mahlknecht’s map of undersea cables.

Seacom EASSy TEAMs WACS MainOne GLO1 ACE SAex WASACE BRICS
Cost (millions of USD) 650 265 130 600 240 800 700 500 ? ?
Length (km) 13,700 10,000 4,500 14,000 7,000 9,500 14,000 9,000 9,000 34,000
Capacity 1.28 Tb/s 4.72 Tb/s 1.28 Tb/s 5.12 Tb/s 1.92 Tb/s 2.5 Tb/s 5.12 Tb/s 12.8 Tb/s 40 Tb/s 12.8 Tb/s
Completion July 2009 July 2010 Sept 2009 Q3 2011 Q2 2010 Q3 2010 Q2 2012 Q2 2013 2014 2014
Ownership USA 25%SA 50%

Kenya 25%AfricanTelecom

Operators 90%TEAMs (Kenya)  85%Etisalaat (UAE) 15%TelkomVodacom

MTN

Tata (Neotel)

Infraco et alUS Nigeria, AFDB France
Telecom et al
See below for full list???

 

Investor detail:

Seacom (http://www.seacom.mu)

 

Industrial Promotion Services (25%), an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (USD 75 million)

(Kenya – founded by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV of Pakistan)

VenFin Limited (25%) – USD 75 million)

Herakles Telecom LLC (backed by Blackstone) (25%), New York-based lead company, no website (USD 75 million)

Convergence Partners (12,5%) – USD 37.5 million

Shanduka Group (12.5%) – USD 37.5 million

EASSy (http://www.eassy.org/)

 

EASSy is 90% African-owned although that ownership is underwritten by a substantial investment by Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) including World Bank/IFC, EIB, AfDB, AFD, and DfW. Total DFI investment is apparently $70.7 million, with $18.2 million coming from IFC, 14.5 million from AfDB. This is a smaller amount than the originally advertised $120 million investment from DFIs.

South African investors in EASSY include Telkom/Vodacom ($18.9 million) , MTN ($40.3 million),  and Neotel (~$11 million).

WIOCC, an SPV created to facilitate open access is the largest shareholder, with 29%.  WIOCC consortium members include: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, Dalkom Somalia, Djibouti Telecom, Gilat Satcom Nigeria Ltd., the Government of Seychelles, the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority, ONATEL Burundi, Telkom Kenya Ltd., Telecommunicacões de Mocambique (TDM), U-COM Burundi, Uganda Telecom Ltd., Zantel Tanzania and most recently, TelOne Zimbabwe and Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company (LPTIC)

Other investors in the system include Bharti Airtel Limited of India,  British Telecommunications, Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, France Telecom, Mauritius Telecom, Saudi Telecom Company, Comores Telecom, Sudan Telecom Company, Tanzania Telecommunications Company, Telecom Malagasy,  Zambia Telecommunications Company, Zanzibar Telecom.

TEAMs

85 per cent of the cable is owned by TEAMs (Kenya) Ltd and the rest by Etisalaat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).   The TEAMS (Kenya) Ltd holding breaks down as follows:

  • 42.5% – Telkom Kenya Ltd
  • 22.5% – Safaricom Ltd
  • 10% – Kenya Data Networks Ltd
  • 10% – Econet/Essar Telecom Ltd
  • 5% – Wananchi Group
  • 3.75% – Jamii Telecom Ltd
  • 1.25% – Broadband Access/AccessKenya Ltd
  • 1.25% – Africa Fibrenet (Uganda) Ltd
  • 1.25% – InHand Ltd
  • 1.25% – iQuip Ltd
  • 1.25% – Flashcom Ltd

West African Cable System (WACS)

 

  • Telkom
  • Vodacom
  • MTN
  • Tata Communications (Neotel)
  • Broadband Infraco
  • Cable & Wireless
  • Portugal Telecoms
  • Congo Telecoms (formerly Sotelco)
  • Telecom Namibia
  • Togo Telecom
  • OCPT (Office Congolais des Postes et Telecommunications)
  • Angola Telecom

MaIN OnE

Privately owned.  On June 1, 2009, the African Development Bank confirmed  USD 66 million financing for the project.

Africa Coast to Europe (ACE)

ACE consortium signatories:

  • Baharicom Development Company
  • Cable Consortium of Liberia
  • Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicações
  • Côte d’Ivoire Telecom
  • Expresso Telecom Group
  • France Telecom
  • Gambia Telecommunications Company
  • International Mauritania Telecom
  • Office Congolais des Postes et Télécommunications
  • Orange Cameroun
  • Orange Guinée
  • Orange Mali
  • Orange Niger
  • PT Comunicações
  • Republic of Equatorial Guinea
  • Republic of Gabon
  • Sierra Leone Cable Company
  • Sonatel
  • Sotelgui
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  • http://www.rackorganizer.net/ Richard

    Thank you, nice article. http://www.rackorganizer.net/

  • Martin

    Hi. Great site and great work. Thanks so much :-)
    A little query….. The SACS cable carrying 40TB to Luanda only?? Would that be because it links with the 40TB WASACE?
    If this all materialises in 2014 as planned aren’t we in South Africa going to be overloaded with bandwidth options?

    Cheers. Martin, Port Elizabeth

  • Martin

    No. I’ve got that wrong…..WASACE bypasses Luanda. That leaves WACS-5Tb and SAex-12Tb = 17Tb ??

  • stevesong

    Hi Martin. SACS is a deal between Angola Cables and the Brazilian state-owned telco Telebras. No doubt they are negotiating onward traffic on either side. I don’t think anyone believes all of the proposed cables for the South Atlantic will come to fruition. I hope one does soon though. South Africa could also benefit from a new cable to the far east but I think the BRICS cable is among the shakier propositions.

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