Submarine Cables in Africa

Africa is irrefutably one of the most important growth markets globally embracing digital transformation enabled by resurgent economic progress,

Among the 54 African countries recognized by United Nations, there are 38 countries that have seashore and 16 that are land locked. Out of these 38 countries that have seashore, 37 countries have at least one submarine cable landing. The lone exception is Eritrea, considering Western Sahara is considered disputed territory.

By the end of 2019, among the 37 countries that have at least one subsea cable landing, 11 countries have only 1 subsea cable, 10 countries have 2 subsea cables, 6 have 3 subsea cables, and 10 have more than 3.

The map below depicts a full and colorful picture about African Undersea Cables.

African Undersea Cables, by Steve Song, Many Possibilities

There are also excellent insights and summary on submarine cables business in Africa in the following articles:

African subsea cables — Submarine cables in Africa, by Suvesh Chattopadhyaya, Submarine Cables for Africa – A close look at 2019-21

Cable Landing Stations in Djibouti

Djibouti is a significant location for submarine cables running through the Asia, Africa and Europe corridor or connecting the East Africa.

Since the merger the Telecommunications Department of the Office of Posts and Telecommunications (OPT) and the International Telecommunication Company of Djibouti (STID) in 1999, Djibouti Telecom has become the incumbent and monopoly of national and international telecommunications throughout Djibouti. Djibouti Telecom is today a leading strategic center for international telecommunication services in East Africa with its underlying network infrastructure including international submarine cables and terrestrial cables (between Djibouti-Somali, and Djibouti-Ethiopia).

Djibouti Telecom has built two cable landing stations, the YAC A Cable Landing Station (YAC A CLS) and the Haramous Cable Landing Station (Haramous CLS). There are now eight submairne cables and two terrestrial cables connecting Djibouti to the world.

Subsea cables landing at the YAC A CLS:

AAE1
ADEN-DJIBOUTI
SEACOM
SMW3
DARE1

Subsea cables landing at the Haramous CLS:

EIG
EASSy
SMW5
DJIBOUTI-ETHIOPIA (terrestrial cable)
DJIBOUTI-SOMALIA (terrestrial cable)

Besides the YAC A and Haramous cable landing stations, the Djibouti Data Center (DDC) represents a key telecom infrastructure in Djibouti.

Launched commercial operations in 2013, the DDC is a carrier neutral data center in Djibouti. The DDC building is adjacent to the Haramous CLS, and connected by diverse dark fiber paths to the Haramous CLS and the YAC A CLS, connecting all transoceanic and regional cable systems landing in Djibouti. Backhaul to any subsea cable head can be ordered directly from the DDC, although it is provided by Djibouti Telecom.

Djibouti Cable Landing Stations

Cable Landing Staions in Kenya

There are now 5 submarine cables landing in Kenya, including:

Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS, a 10% stake in LION2 and 2.6% stake in EASSy.

Cable Landing Stations in Nigeria

In Nigeria, there are now five international submarine cables, with over 40 Tbps of capacity, including SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable, ACE cable and WACS cable, landed by Natcom, MainOne, Glo 1, Dolphin Telecom and MTN respectively.

There is also a submarine cable connecting Kribi in Cameroon to Lagos in Nigeria, the Nigeria-Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS). The NCSCS is owned by Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL), in a partnership with MainOne to land the NCSCS cable at MainOne's Lagos Cable Landing Station.

Google's private cable Equiano will land in Nigeria.

According to ASCON, Nigeria has used less than 10% of its five submarine cables capacity as of early 2019.

Association of Submarine Cable Operators of Nigeria (ASCON)

The Association of Submarine Cable Operators of Nigeria (ASCON) was inaugurated on 10^th December 2018, aiming to create a national advocacy forum for Nigerian companies and administrations that own and/or operate submarine telecommunications cables landing in the country.

The Principal objective of the ASCON is to:

Create a national advocacy forum for Nigerian companies and administrations that own and/or operate submarine telecommunications cables landing in the country.
ASCON has been established to promote, encourage and assist in the protection of subsea cable infrastructure and ancillary equipment and facilities from marine activities, man-made and natural hazards.
The association shall support and manage governmental and public/private sector collaboration, to ensure that the operations and maintenance of critical subsea communications assets are adequately protected and recognized in the development of rules and policies in Nigeria

Members, Board of Trustees of ASCON include

Funke Opeke (MD/CEO, MainOne;
Uche Osuji (MTN Nigeria, GM, Network Performance & Quality Assurance) and
Abdelraham Bashar (Deputy MD, ACE/Dolphine)
Innocent Nwokwocha – (nTel)

The Executive Council of ASCON is made up of:

Ifeloju Alakija- President (MainOne)
Maxwell Eze – Vice President (MTN)
Bolaji Mudashiru – General Secretary (ACE/Dolphin Telecom)
Prosper Iredia Ogbagha – Publicity Secretary (Natcom SAT-3)