On the back of an official launch of the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) in Sangano, Angola, stakeholders have described the current phase, involving installation of the cable on the Angolan shore, as "a critical and high risk moment."

In a statement developer Angola Cables explained that this is one of the most important aspects of the project as several levels of interaction and activity are required with several entities simultaneously.

SACS is the first direct link between Africa and South America. Constructed by NEC Corporation, the subsea cable, with 40 Tbps of capacity, will extend more than 6,500 km to Fortaleza, Brazil and began on the Angolan coast in the municipality of Quissama.

Angola Cables believes when the entire network is completed, along with associated elements such as data centres and Internet Exchange Points, SACS will offer a paradigm shift in Africa's telecommunications sector.

António Nunes, CEO of Angola Cables, said, "For Angolans, the time to access content available in America – the largest centre for the production and aggregation of digital content and services – will improve fivefold."

The company says that it currently takes approximately 300 milliseconds to connect between Angola and Brazil. With SACS, the latency – the time lag between a data packet being sent and received – is expected to be reduced to approximately 60 milliseconds.

"Angola is becoming one of the telecommunications hubs in sub-Saharan Africa," added Nunes. "Current cable systems, such as WACS, together with the SACS and Monet cables systems – complemented by local data centres – will improve connectivity, but also economically benefit Angola and the surrounding regions as tech companies requiring high connectivity establish and grow their operations in Africa."

The company joined government officials, local and international business leaders at a launch event attended by José Carvalho da Rocha, the Angolan Minister of Telecommunications and Technologies.

SACS is expected to be completed in 2018.