Orange Group has unveiled a new Europe-Africa submarine cable project aimed at improving the resilience and diversity of West Africa’s international connectivity.
According to the company, the project — dubbed Via Africa — will connect Europe and Africa along the Atlantic coast through a consortium-backed investment model.
Current investors include Canalink, GUILAB, International Mauritania Telecom, Orange Group, Orange Côte d'Ivoire, Sonatel and Silverlinks, which have signed a memorandum of understanding formalising their participation in the project.
The proposed cable aims to connect Europe to South Africa, with landing points planned in the United Kingdom, France and Portugal, as well as along Africa’s Atlantic coastline, including the Canary Islands, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria.
Orange said extensions further south are intended to improve connectivity diversity, and network resilience for countries along the route.
The participating firms asserted that the undertaking stems from a shared ambition to develop international connectivity, support surging traffic growth, and strengthen network infrastructure across the African continent.
Orange said the Via Africa system will operate under a consortium structure, allowing partners to co-invest in the infrastructure and participate in governance and operational decision-making.
As part of the initial phase, consortium members will jointly finance a comprehensive cable route study to identify an optimal path that balances resilience, technical feasibility and overall economic efficiency.
"The new open cable project is designed to contribute to greater diversity and resilience of international connectivity serving Africa, by providing a different subsea route than existing infrastructure and strengthening the robustness of regional connectivity," Orange said in a statement.
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