DIGITAL HIGHWAY INVASION! Mega Europe-Africa Undersea Cable to Shake Up Internet Connectivity Across Continent
Via Africa Map
Africa’s digital future is set for a massive transformation after telecom giants unveiled plans for a brand-new subsea cable project that will link Europe directly to Africa along the Atlantic coast in a move expected to strengthen internet connectivity, boost resilience and power the continent’s growing digital economy.
The ambitious project, named Via Africa, is being backed by a powerful consortium bringing together some of the telecommunications industry’s biggest players including Orange Group, Orange Côte d’Ivoire, Sonatel, Canalink, GUILAB, International Mauritania Telecom and Silverlinks.
The telecom heavyweights have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding to kick-start the Via Africa submarine cable project, confirming what they described as a shared ambition to develop international connectivity, support surging internet traffic growth and strengthen the resilience of networks across the African continent.
The mega cable system aims to connect Europe all the way to South Africa, creating a new digital superhighway between the two continents.
According to details released by the consortium, the system will include landing points in the United Kingdom, France and Portugal before stretching down the Atlantic coastline into Africa.
The cable is expected to touch strategic destinations including the Canary Islands, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria before extending further south to support increased connectivity diversity and improved resilience for countries located along the route.
Industry insiders say the project could significantly change Africa’s internet landscape by introducing a fresh subsea route different from existing infrastructure, helping reduce network vulnerabilities and improving the stability of international connections serving millions of users across the continent.
The Via Africa system is being managed under a consortium model, a structure the investors say gives participating partners autonomy and sovereignty while allowing them to co-invest in the infrastructure and actively participate in governance and decision-making.
Under the arrangement, consortium members will directly influence decisions regarding the design, deployment and future exploitation of the system, ensuring the infrastructure best serves their individual national and commercial interests.
The model is already being described as robust and proven within the subsea cable industry, with the founding partners also leaving the door open for additional telecom and digital players to join the project in the future.
The consortium says the new open cable project is specifically designed to enhance the diversity and resilience of Africa’s international connectivity by introducing an alternative subsea route to complement existing systems and strengthen regional connectivity.
As part of the next phase of the project, consortium members will jointly finance a cable route study aimed at identifying the most optimal route balancing resilience, technical feasibility and economic efficiency.
At the same time, preparations are already underway for the procurement process to select the cable supplier that will eventually build the massive undersea infrastructure system.
The announcement has already sparked excitement across Africa’s telecom and technology sectors, with analysts predicting the Via Africa project could become one of the continent’s most strategic digital infrastructure developments in recent years as Africa races to meet exploding internet demand, data consumption and cross-border digital trade.
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