Update July 2020 (Version 51)

Please contact me if you’d like a copy of the map in SVG format.

For a history of African undersea cables, have a look at animated gif history. If you’re interested in seeing how these cables are changing access, Stanford University’s PINGer project is monitoring the impact of Seacom and other east coast cables as they come online. You may also be interested in NSRC‘s map of African Terrestrial Fibre initiatives at afterfibre.nsrc.org. Finally, for a more comprehensive look at undersea cables, check out Telegeography’s Submarine Cable Map.

Undersea Cable Ownership Matrix

African Undersea Cable Investor Matrix

Investor ISO SAT3/SAFE SAS-1 SEA-ME-WE4 TEAMs Seacom I-ME-WE MainOne EASSy GLO1 EIG SEAS LION2 WACS ACE NCSCS SEA-ME-WE-5 AAE-1 SACS SAIL DARE PEACE METISS EllaLink ACE Gabon GA ✓ Africa Marine Express ? ✓ Airtel IN ✓ Algerie Telecom DZ ✓ Angola Cables AO ✓ BCS Group KE ✓ Benin ACE GIE BJ ✓ Bharti Infotel IN ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Botswana Telecom (BTC) BW ✓ Broadband Infraco ZA ✓ BSCCL (Bangladesh) BD ✓ ✓ BSNL IN ✓ BT Group UK ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ C&W UK ✓ ✓ ✓ Cable & Wireless Seychelles SC ✓ Cable Consortium of Liberia LR ✓ Camtel CM ✓ ✓ Canal+ Telecom FR ✓ Canalink Africa SL SL ✓ CAT Telecom TH ✓ CEB (Fibernet) Mu ✓ China Mobile CN ✓ China Telecom CN ✓ China unicom CN ✓ ✓ ✓ Comoros Cable KM ✓ Congo Telecom CG ✓ Convergence Partners ZA ✓ Cote D'Ivoire Telecom CI ✓ CPRM PT ✓ Cybernet PK ✓ Djibouti Telecom DJ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Dolphin Telecom JLT SN ✓ Du AE ✓ ✓ Emtel Ltd Mu ✓ ✓ ETISALAT AE ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ France Telecom FR ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Gambia Submarine Cable GM ✓ Ghana Telecom GH ✓ GibTelecom GI ✓ Globacom Limited NG ✓ Global Marine Systems UK ✓ Global Transit MY ✓ Golis Telecom SO ✓ ✓ Govt of Cameroon CM ✓ Govt of Kenya KE ✓ Govt of Seychelles SC ✓ Herakles Telecom US ✓ Hormund Telecom Somalia SO ✓ ✓ HTDG CN ✓ HyalRoute SG ✓ Industrial Promotion Services KE ✓ International Mauritania Telecom MR ✓ Islalink ES ✓ JTL KE ✓ KDN (Liquid Telecom) KE ✓ ✓ La Guinéenne de Large Bande GN ✓ Libya Post &Telecom LY ✓ Main Street Technologies NG ✓ ✓ ✓ Maroc Telecom MA ✓ Mauritius Telecom Mu ✓ MCI US ✓ MEO PT ✓ MetFone KH ✓ MPT MM ✓ MTN Group ZA ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Nigeria Telecoms NG ✓ Nitel NG ✓ Office Congolais de P&T CD ✓ Ogero LB ✓ Omantel OM ✓ ✓ Ooredoo QA ✓ ✓ OPT Benin BJ ✓ OPT Gabon GA ✓ Orange FR ✓ ✓ Orange Cameroun CM ✓ Orange Côte d’Ivoire CI ✓ Orange Madagascar MG ✓ Orange Mali ML ✓ Orange Niger NE ✓ Oteglobe GR ✓ Pakistan Telecom (PTCL) PK ✓ ✓ PCCW HK ✓ ✓ Reliance Jio IN ✓ Republic of Equatorial Guinea GQ ✓ République of Cameroun CM ✓ Retelit IT ✓ Safaricom KE ✓ Saudi Telecom Co (STC) SA ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ SFR FR ✓ Shanduka Group ZA ✓ Sierra Leone Cable Company SL ✓ SingTel SG ✓ ✓ Somtel Group SO ✓ Sonatel SN ✓ Sri Lanka Telecom LK ✓ ✓ STP Cabo CV ✓ Sudatel SD ✓ Tanzania Telecom (TTCL) TZ ✓ Tata Communications IN ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ TCI US ✓ Telebras BR ✓ Telecom Egypt EG ✓ ✓ ✓ Telecom Italia (Sparkle) IT ✓ ✓ Telecom Malaysia MY ✓ ✓ Telecom Namibia NA ✓ ✓ Telesom Company SO ✓ TeleYemen YE ✓ ✓ ✓ Telin ID ✓ Telkom Kenya KE ✓ ✓ Telkom South Africa ZA ✓ ✓ ✓ Telma Madagascar MG ✓ ✓ Telxius ES ✓ Togo Telecom TG ✓ ✓ TOT TH ✓ TransWorld Associates PK ✓ Tunisie Telecom TN ✓ Turk Telecom TR ✓ Venfin ZA ✓ Verizon US ✓ Viettel VN ✓ VNPT VN ✓ Vodacom ZA ✓ ✓ Wananchi KE ✓ ✓ WIOCC KE ✓ ZEOP RE ✓ Q1 2001 Q2 2003 Q4 2005 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q3 2010 Q3 2010 Q4 2010 Q1 2011 Q2 2012 Q2 2012 Q2 2012 Q4 2013 Q1 2016 Q1 2017 Q2 2017 Q3 2018 Q4 2018 Q4 2019 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020

The Seacom cable is owned by:

Industrial Promotion Services (25%), an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (USD 75 million)

(Kenya – founded by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV of Pakistan)

VenFin Limited (25%) – USD 75 million)

VenFin Limited (25%) – USD 75 million) Herakles Telecom LLC (backed by Blackstone) (25%), New York-based lead company, no website (USD 75 million)

Convergence Partners (12,5%) – USD 37.5 million

Shanduka Group (12.5%) – USD 37.5 million

EASSy is 90% African-owned although that ownership is underwritten by a substantial investment by Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) including World Bank/IFC, EIB, AfDB, AFD, and KfW. Total DFI investment is apparently $70.7 million, with $18.2 million coming from IFC, 14.5 million from AfDB. This is a smaller amount than the originally advertised $120 million investment from DFIs.

South African investors in EASSY include Telkom/Vodacom ($18.9 million) , MTN ($40.3 million), and Neotel (~$11 million).

WIOCC, an SPV created to facilitate open access is the largest shareholder, with 29%. WIOCC consortium members include: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, Dalkom Somalia, Djibouti Telecom, Gilat Satcom Nigeria Ltd., the Government of Seychelles, the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority, ONATEL Burundi, Telkom Kenya Ltd., Telecommunicacões de Mocambique (TDM), U-COM Burundi, Uganda Telecom Ltd., Zantel Tanzania and most recently, TelOne Zimbabwe and Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company (LPTIC)

Other investors in the system include Bharti Airtel Limited of India, British Telecommunications, Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, France Telecom, Mauritius Telecom, Saudi Telecom Company, Comores Telecom, Sudan Telecom Company, Tanzania Telecommunications Company, Telecom Malagasy, Zambia Telecommunications Company, Zanzibar Telecom.

85 per cent of the cable is owned by TEAMs (Kenya) Ltd and the rest by Etisalaat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The TEAMS (Kenya) Ltd holding breaks down as follows:

32.5% – Safaricom Ltd

23% – Orange Kenya Ltd

20% – Government of Kenya

10% – Liquid Telecom Kenya Ltd

6% – Wananchi Group

5% – Jamii Telecom Ltd

1.8% – Access Kenya Group

1.2% – BCS Group

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Africa at Night image courtesy Wikipedia/NASA