Ten undersea cables connect South Africa to the rest of the world and the continent, managed and funded by prominent local companies and large multinationals.

Companies with a South African footprint and those founded in the country with investments in undersea cable systems include Bayobab (MTN), Seacom, Broadband Infraco, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and Telkom.

While wireless communication has improved drastically over the years, wired connectivity still provides greater capacity, better speeds, and lower latency.

Underground and overground cables are commonly used to connect countries on the same continent.

However, intercontinental communication requires the use of extensive cables that are laid along the ocean floor and dropped off between two destinations.

While this has been effective, depending on their depth, undersea cables are vulnerable to seismic activity and damage from heavy objects like ship anchors.

If this happens, it can have far-reaching consequences for connectivity between two continents. This requires efficient undersea cable repair vessels and teams that can be deployed to the point of the break to start repairs.

Two vessels—Orange Marine’s Léon Thévenin and Global Marine’s C.S. Sovereign—recently repaired cable breaks in Africa and South Africa.

The Léon Thévenin, built in 1983 and named in honour of French engineer Léon Charles Thévenin, measures almost 108 metres in length and operates out of the Port of Cape Town.

Global Marine’s C.S. Sovereign is slightly younger, completed in November 1989. It measures over 130 metres in length and is registered at the Port of Southhampton in the UK.

They recently repaired undersea cable faults off the West Coast and East Coast of Africa in early 2024.

The West Coast faults had a marked impact on connectivity to other continents in South Africa. However, the faults have since been repaired.

All the subsea cables connecting South Africa to other parts of the world are listed below. South African investors in these cables are noted in brackets.

We have included those with South African investors at the top. However, all undersea cables connecting to South Africa are listed regardless of whether they have a local investor.

The map images are sourced from TeleGeography’s Submarine Cable Map.

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2Africa — Bayobab (MTN)

• Length: 45,000km
• Other investors: China Mobile, Meta Platforms, Orange, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, WIOCC
• South African landing point(s): Amanzimtoti – KwaZulu-Natal, Gqeberha – Eastern Cape, and Melkbosstrand and Yzerfontein – Western Cape.

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Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) — Bayobab (MTN)

• Length: 17,000km
• Other investors: Benin ACE GIE, Cable Consortium of Liberia, Canalink, Dolphin Telecom, GUILAB, Gambia Submarine Cable Company, IInternational Mauritania Telecom, Orange, Orange Cameroun, Orange Cote d’Ivoire, Orange Mali, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Gabon, Republic of Guinea Bissau, STP Cabo, Sierra Leone Cable Company, Sonatel, Zamani Telecom
• South African landing point(s): Duynefontein, Western Cape

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West Africa Cable System — Bayobab (MTN) Broadband Infraco, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom South Africa

• Length: 14,530km
• Other investors: Altice Portugal, Angola Cables, Camtel, Cape Verde Telecom, Congo Telecom, Office Congolais de Poste et Télécommunication, PCCW, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Togo Telecom, Vodacom DRC, Vodafone, Vodafone Espana, Vodafone Ghana
• South African landing point(s): Yzerfontein, Western Cape

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SAT-3/WASC — Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom South Africa

• Length: 14,350km
• Investors: AT&T, Altice Portugal, Angola Telecom, BICS, BT, Benin Telecoms, Camtel, China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, Cyta, Deutsche Telekom, Ghana Telecommunications Company, KPT, KT, Maroc Telecom, Mauritius Telecom, NATCOM, OPT, Orange, Orange Cote d’Ivoire, PCCW, Singtel, Sparkle, T-Mobile, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telekom Malaysia, Telstra, Telxius, Verison, Vodafone
• South African landing point(s): Melkbosstrand, Western Cape.

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SAFE — Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom South Africa

• Length: 13,500km
• Investors: AT&T, Angola Telecom, BICS, Camtel China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, Ghana Telecommunications Company, KPN, KT, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Maroc Telecom, Mauritius Telecom, NATCOM, OPT, Orange, Orange Cote d’Ivoire, PCCW, Singtel, Sonatel, Sparkle, T-Mobile, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telefonica, Telekom Malaysia, Telkom South Africa, Telstra, Verizon, Vodafone
• South African landing point(s): Melkbosstrand, Western Cape, and Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal

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Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) — Bayobab (MTN), Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom South Africa

• Length: 10,500km
• Investors: BT, Bharti Airtel, Botswana Fibre Networks, Comores Telecom, Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat UAE, Mauritius Telecom, Orange Saudi Telecom, Sudatel, Tanzania Telecommunication Corporation, Telkom Kenya, Tlema (Telecom Malagasy), Vodacom DRC, WIOCC, Zambia Telecom
• South African landing point(s): Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal

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T3 — Liquid Intelligent Technologies

• Length: 3,200km
• Investors: Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Mauritius Telecom
• South African landing point(s): Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal

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Equiano

• Length: 15,000km
• Investors: Google
• South African landing point(s): Melkbosstrand, Western Cape

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SEACOM/Tata EGN-Eurasia

• Length: 15,000km
• Investors: SEACOM, Tata Communications
• South African landing point(s): Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal

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Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS)

• Length: 3,200km
• Investors: CEB Fibernet, Canal+ Telecom, Emtel SFR, Telma (Telecom Malagasy), Zeop
• South African landing point(s): Umbogintwini, KwaZulu-Natal

Source: My Broadband