France Telecom-Orange and other members of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) consortium have launched the ACE submarine cable for linking France and Sao Tom? and Principe.
The cable, which will be extended to South Africa in the second phase of the project, provides connectivity to Africa and will add extra capacity to existing international networks. As part of the submarine cable, about 12,000 km of optical fibre running along the west coast of Africa has been deployed to connect 13 countries from France to Sao Tom? and Principe. Two landlocked countries, Mali and Niger, will also be connected through extensions to the terrestrial network. Nigeria will also be connected to the cable in 2013.
The commissioning of the first phase of ACE submarine cable marks the beginning of the deployment plan for the ACE submarine cable, which will have a total network length of 17,000 km. Seven more countries will be connected in the second phase of the cable submarine project.
France Telecom-Orange has executed the project along with its subsidiaries C?te d’Ivoire Telecom, Orange Cameroon, Orange Mali, Orange Niger and Sonatel.
