France Telecom has signed a $500 million construction contract with Alcatel-Lucent for the new Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable

France Telecom has signed a $500 million construction contract with Alcatel-Lucent for the new Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable. The ACE consortium is a newly formed group of 20 telecom operators headed by the French behemoth. The 17,000 km fibre optic link will connect a majority of the West African countries to the global broadband network. The new link is expected to be operational in the first half of 2012 and will connect 23 countries (either directly or indirectly), from South Africa to France.