Phase II of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system, a 5,000km extension from the Gulf of Guinea island of Sao Tomé-et-Principe to South Africa, is set to begin. Phase II will link Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville and South Africa, including an extension to Cameroon. On completion of the Phase II extension, the ACE system will deliver an overall design capacity of 12.8 Tbps.
Alcatel-Lucent is supplying 100G submarine technology,
“The extension of the ACE system to South Africa is a significant milestone that confirms our commitment to address the connectivity challenges facing Africa. ASN’s know-how and technological innovations, which we have recently tested on our existing network, will support us in further developing direct connectivity within Africa and to the overall objective of ACE to reduce communication costs and drive social and economic growth in the continent,” stated Yves Ruggeri, Chairman of the ACE Management Committee/
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- ACE consortium, led by Orange, is composed of 19 operators, namely: Benin ACE GIE, Cable Consortium of Liberia, Canalink, Côte d’Ivoire Telecom, Dolphin Telecom, Guineenne de la Large Bande, Gambia Submarine Cable Company, International Mauritania Telecom, Orange Cameroun, Orange France, Orange Mali, Orange Niger, MEO, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB), Sonatel, SPIN (Gabon) and STP Cabo.. Phase I covered 11,500 km linking Sao Tomé and Principe to France – via Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Tenerife (Spain) and Portugal. Phase II will span more than 5,000 km, for an overall system distance of 17,000 km.