Luanda-based Angola Cables has invested over US$300 million in its infrastructure to link Africa to South America through its undersea cable.

The company's focus will now shift to enhance connectivity in Africa and encourage digital commercial activity in Africa and Brazil.

CEO António Nunes said, "Our focus at the moment is on finalising the two submarine cable systems: Monet and SACS then completion of the Tier 3 data centre in Fortaleza Brazil - and ensuring the commercialising of these projects."

He added, "The investments in infrastructure that Angola Cables has made - and continues to develop, will stimulate the digital ecosystem within Angola and neighbouring countries providing operators within the telecoms market with intercontinental connections of high quality and high efficiency."

Data traffic in the continent is on the rise, he said stating that data will travel in shorter distances with enhanced infrastructure.

Land-locked countries might not get the benefit of infrastructure as quickly as their counterparts, but Nunes is hopeful this will change.

"The situation is slightly different when it comes to inland countries as they do not have direct access to subsea cable networks," he said. "The infrastructure and access to these markets has its own set of challenges, however over the longer term, these geographies will also benefit from improved connectivity - and with increased competition and advancements being made in network connectivity, costs can be further reduced."

Localisation of data

Nunes encouraged companies in Africa to host content locally and reduce the cost of connectivity for ISPs.

"Hosting data outside of a particular country is a low cost process. As many of the larger content providers are hosting a lot of content they are able to realise synergies, in terms of the costs of hosting and content provision," he said.

But with many countries crafting laws on data privacy in Africa, service providers will be forced to offer local hosting solutions.

He also urged big multinationals such as Google, Facebook and other social media services to set up nodes within Africa to allow for a faster experience.

"Companies like the OTTs are the big customers today in terms of the transmission of large amounts of data. In response to this, a significant amount of investment is being channelled into co-location opportunities and developing local IT data facilities and infrastructure to accommodate this," he said.