West Africa Cable System Overview and Management Framework

The West Africa Cable System is a critical infrastructure that connects several West African countries to the global internet network. It spans over 14,000 kilometers of underwater cables.

This system is managed by a consortium of companies, including Main One, Glo-1, and ACE. These companies work together to ensure the system's reliability and performance.

The West Africa Cable System plays a vital role in the region's economic development, enabling fast and reliable internet connectivity for businesses, governments, and individuals.

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The West Africa Cable System is a significant project that requires careful planning and execution. It spans over 6,000 kilometers, connecting 22 countries in West Africa.

The system has a design capacity of 9.6 Tbps, which is impressive considering the vast geographical area it covers. This capacity will enable fast and reliable internet connectivity across the region.

The cable system has been designed to be resilient, with multiple branching units and a robust architecture that can withstand natural disasters and other forms of damage.

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The design capacity of WACS has undergone significant upgrades since its inception. The initial planned design capacity was 3.84 Tbit/s when the project agreement was signed in 2008.

Upon delivery in 2012, the design capacity was increased to 5.12 Tbit/s, a notable improvement from the original plan. This upgrade demonstrates the importance of regular capacity assessments and upgrades in maintaining optimal performance.

In 2015, Huawei Marine delivered an upgrade using WDMSoft DecisionFEC and bit interleaved coded modulation advanced decoders, which allowed for a further increase in design capacity to 14.5 Tbit/s.

The topology of the fibre pairs is a key aspect of the technical details.

There are four fibre pairs in total, each with a unique route.

One fibre pair is a direct route from South Africa to Europe, known as the Express lane.

This route is a semi-express lane for the second and third fibre pairs, with two and three stops respectively.

The second fibre pair goes from South Africa to Nigeria and then to Portugal.

The third fibre pair has a longer route, stopping at Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ivory Coast before reaching Portugal.

The fourth fibre pair is an omnibus fibre that stops at all landing ports along the way.

Here's a breakdown of the fibre pairs and their routes:

The West Africa Cable System (WACS) has a robust infrastructure and management structure. The WACS consortium includes 12 companies that signed the Construction and Maintenance Agreement on April 8, 2009.

These companies are listed below:

The construction of the 4-fibre pair submarine cable system was completed at a total project cost of approximately US$650 million.