France Telecom has revealed that its $700 million fibre-optic undersea cable, connecting France to Africa’s western coastline, could go live in December.

The firm initiated and leads the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) Consortium, which is constructing a 17,000 km long fibre optic submarine cable system stretching from France to South Africa.

ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) is a consortium of telecom and cable operators from Europe and the continent such as Cote d’Ivoire Telecom and the Sierra Leone Cable Company.

Countries such as Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe and Sierra Leone are to be connected to the cable. Meanwhile, the cable is also planned to land in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and South Africa.

“We are on schedule,” said Yvess Rugerri Director, Network Strategy and Submarine Systems for France Telecom.

“The service, which is now undergoing testing, will be ready for launch in all the countries next month. There will be a ceremony in Banjul, The Gambia on December 15 to mark the event,” added Rugerri.

The new submarine network system, with built-in 40 Gbit/s capability, is poised to join other undersea broadband cables connecting to the continent, such as SEACOM and Eassy.