By Khalifa Hemed
Published August 10, 2017
Work on a subsea cable link between Africa and South America that is aimed at improving global communications has begun.
The South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) that will extend more than 6500 kilometres to Fortaleza in Brazil and that is touted as being the first direct subsea link between Africa and South America has begun in Quissama on the Angolan coast.
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When the 40 Tbps capacity SACS, the initiative of Angola Cables telecommunications company, is completed, it will reduce the the latency or time lag between a data packet being sent and received between Angola and Brazil from by one-fifth, i.e from 300 milliseconds to 60 milliseconds.
“For Angolans, the time to access content available in America – the largest centre for the production and aggregation of digital content and services – will improve fivefold,” says António Nunes, Chief Executive Officer of Angola Cables.
Saying Angola is becoming a telecommunications hubs in sub-Saharan Africa, Nunes says current cable systems “such as WACS, together with the SACS and Monet cables systems – complemented by local data centers – will improve connectivity, but also economically benefit Angola and the surrounding regions as tech companies requiring high connectivity establish and grow their operations in Africa.”
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Analysts describe the installation phase of the cable on the Angolan shore as ‘one of the most important aspects of the project as several levels of interaction and activity are required with several entities simultaneously, and therefore constitute a critical and high risk moment. The protection of both the cable and the teams involved is one of the aspects analyzed and therefore the work is rigorous and well planned’. 
“The installation of SACS represents the realisation of a dream, a development that reflects our ability to find solutions and overcome challenges, always having in mind the final objective,” Nunes says.
Among those who attended the launch ceremony of the project that is considered a strategic initiative for Angola to advance the region’s digital economy included José Carvalho da Rocha, the Angolan Minister of Telecommunications and Technologies, local and international business leaders, as well as players in the telecommunications field and guests of Angola Cables.
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