Optical & Fixed Networks

Congo looks for alternatives to WACS cable

The Republic of Congo has announced plans to connect the country to a, so far unidentified, new undersea cable following a number of reports regarding faults in the long-established WACS cable on which the country heavily relies.

The West Africa Cable System (WACS) is an ultra-high-capacity fibre optic submarine cable system and, at the moment, one of Africa’s main undersea fibre optic links. It connects a number of countries in the west and south of Africa to Europe, via Portugal, and terminates in the United Kingdom. Its landing points include Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. It began operation in 2012.

However, there have been a number of disruptions to internet access via WACS in recent weeks and reports say that service quality has sharply deteriorated, with repeated outages and very slow speeds mentioned, prompting Congo to announce technical studies into alternatives. These apparently began late last week and should be completed within two weeks.

Indeed, according to the Ecofin news agency, Benjamin Mouandza, Director of Networks and Electronic Communications Services at the Posts and Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (ARPCE), has said that the new link could be operational within three weeks if work stays on schedule. That, however, appears to be all we know about these plans; no costs or technical specifications have been offered.

The apparently much-delayed Dow Africa cable, about which little information is available, has also been suggested as an option for strengthening national connectivity once it enters service, though it’s not clear when that might be.

Congo has also been connected to the 2Africa cable since August 2023, but the system does not yet appear to be operational in the country.

Ecofin cites official sources that estimate that more than 3.5 million people use the internet daily in Congo, out of a population of nearly 6 million.



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