Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) is an optical-fiber submarine cable system serving 24 countries on the Europe , west coast and south Africa, managed by a consortium of 20 members. The ACE cable connects more than 450 million people, either directly for coastal countries or through land links for landlocked countries such as

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

and Niger. ACE is also the first international submarine cable to land in Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe and Sierra Leone. Agreements are being put in place to allow the arrival of other operators in countries along the ACE cable route.

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

is the next country to be connected to the submarine cable. ACE Consortium consists of telecommunications operators and member countries that have invested in the total 700 million dollars project, sometimes with the financial support of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

. The consortium agreement was signed on 5 June 2010 and on 15 December 2012, this 17,000 km-long cable was put into service for the first time. The official inauguration ceremony was held in

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, Gambia, on 19 December 2012. The 4 to 5 cms diameter cable runs at around 6,000m below the sea level. The maximum capacity of the entire system is increased from 12.8 Tbps in the design to 20 Tbps. It has been manufactured by

Alcatel Submarine Networks Enderby's Wharf is a wharf and industrial site on the south bank of the Thames in Greenwich, London, associated with Telcon and other companies. It has a history of more than 150 years of production of submarine communication cables and associ ...

(ASN) and laid by ships from ASN and

Orange Marine Orange Marine (formerly France Télécom Marine) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orange S.A. It is a major actor in the laying of new submarine communications cables and the maintenance of existing cables across the world's oceans. The company ...

ACE consortium

The cable cost consortium members $700 million: * ACE Gabon *Bénin ACE GIE *

Cable Consortium of Liberia The Cable Consortium of Liberia (CCL) is a public-private partnership formed in 2010 to own and operate Liberia's cable landing point for the ACE (cable system), ACE cable system. Stakeholders in the project include the Government of Liberia (60% ...

* Canalink * Dolphin Telecom * Gambia Submarine Cable * GUILAB SA * International Mauritania Telecom * MTN Global Connect * Orange (France) * Orange Cameroun * Orange Côte d'Ivoire *

Orange Mali Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

Orange Niger Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 5 ...

*Gestor de Infraestructuras de Telecomunicaciones de Guinea Ecuatorial *SCGB * Sonatel * STP Cabo

Landing points

Segment 1 *

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, Penmarch *

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

Carcavelos Carcavelos () was, until 2013, a civil parish in the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, about west of Lisbon. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Carcavelos e Parede. The parish was known for the Carcavelos wine. With the decline of t ...

* Espagne, île de Tenerife * Mauritania,

Nouakchott Nouakchott (; ; ar, نواكشوط; ber, label= Berber, italic=yes, Nwakcoṭ, originally derived from ber, label= Berber, italic=yes, Nawākšūṭ, "place of the winds") page 273. is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. It is one of t ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣� ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in ...

Segment 2 *

* Gambia,

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, Suro (coming up) * Guinea,

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its ...

* Sierra Leone,

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational an ...

* Liberia,

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

Segment 3 *

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

, Accra *

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

Cotonou Cotonou (; fon, Kútɔ̀nú) is a city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The ci ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

Lagos Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

, Kribi * Equatorial Guinea, Bata *

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, Libreville * Sao Tomé et principe,

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Ál ...

Segment 4 (The last segment is in service - 1 June 2021) *

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Technical features

This 17 000-kilometers long cable is the only one connecting 24 west African and European countries. The ACE consortium members are organized according to a global access concept: multiple investors in one landing station. ACE marine routes have a low history of fault and a time-proof technology. The cable is able to adopt newer transponder technology. Technical features are as below : * PoP-to-PoP connection providing access to major cities in Europe and Africa (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Lisbon,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

) * 100G technology proof * Design capacity increased = 20 terabytes per second * Lit capacity = 1.6 terabytes per second * Initial capacity 200 Gbit/s on segment 1, 160 Gbit/s on segments 2 and 3 * Longest DLS = 4400 kilometres (Penmarch - Dakar) * Low latency (express and omnibus fibres) * Uses

wavelength division multiplexing In fiber-optic communications, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths (i.e., colors) of laser light. This techniq ...

(the most advanced for submarine cables)

References

External links

ACE-Africa Coast to Europe website
{{Submarine communications cables in the Atlantic Ocean Submarine communications cables in the North Atlantic Ocean Submarine communications cables in the South Atlantic Ocean 2012 establishments in Africa 2012 establishments in France 2012 establishments in Portugal

ACE consortium

Landing points

Technical features

See also

References

External links