Orange, together with the other members of the ACE consortium, announces the start of the next phase of the ACE submarine cable system to expand broadband connectivity and digital services in Africa.
Second phase of the ACE cable
For this phase II, the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system is being extended to South Africa: a 5,000km extension from island of Sao Tomé & Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea, to South Africa that will further strengthen the role ACE is playing in critical infrastructure development in the continent.
Today, nearly 12,000km of fiber optic cable are already used to connect 18 countries - France, Portugal, the Canary Islands (Spain), Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé & Príncipe. Two landlocked countries, Mali and Niger, are connected via a terrestrial extension.
When Phase II is completed, ACE will cover a total distance of 17,000km and will allow up to 25 countries to access high speed internet.
Most advanced & secured technology
ACE uses the most advanced high-speed broadband fiber optic technology; wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) allows the capacity to be increased as and when it is needed without additional submarine work being required. Overall capacity will be boosted to 12.8 Tbps using 100-Gbps technology, which supports high-capacity networks.
An essential asset for the Group's broadband network in Africa
The consortium has invested around US$700 million in the construction of the cable, which includes US$250 million from the Orange Group and its subsidiaries.
Through these major investments Orange confirms its commitment to provide widespread access to the internet in the close to twenty African countries where the Group is present and to continue to improve the quality of its network service.
About Orange
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 39 billion euros in 2014 and 157,000 employees worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 98,000 employees in France. Present in 28 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 200 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers.
