Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION)
Active1,000 km submarine cable system, ready for service 2009 }}.
Key facts
- Status
- Active
- Ready for service
- 2009 }}
- Length
- 1,000 km
- Design capacity
- 1.28 terabits per second
- Connects
- Madagascar,Mauritius,Réunion
Landing points
- * Toamasina, Madagascar, * Toamasina — Madagascar
- Sainte-Marie, Réunion, Sainte-Marie — Réunion
- Terre Rouge, Mauritius, Terre Rouge — Mauritius
Overview
The Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION) is a relatively compact submarine cable system spanning 1,000 km across the western Indian Ocean. Entering service in 2009, it connects three distinct island territories — Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius — that sit along one of the world's more isolated maritime corridors. Its design capacity stands at 1.28 terabits per second.
Route and Landing Points
LION lands at Toamasina on the eastern coast of Madagascar, at Sainte-Marie on the island of Réunion, and at Terre Rouge in Mauritius. The route traces a logical arc through the southwestern Indian Ocean, stitching together territories whose geographic separation from continental fibre infrastructure makes dedicated cable connectivity a practical necessity. For all three landing points, the cable represents a direct fibre link rather than reliance on longer, more congested routes.
Ownership and Construction
Ownership and construction details for LION are not publicly documented in available records. This is not unusual for smaller regional systems, which sometimes involve consortium arrangements or national operators that do not publish detailed consortium agreements.
Regional Significance
The western Indian Ocean island chain has historically sat at the periphery of global cable infrastructure, with trunk routes tending to prioritise the high-traffic corridors between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. LION addresses a specific gap: direct, lower-latency connectivity between three island economies that would otherwise depend on longer backhaul paths. Réunion and Mauritius in particular have significant economic and administrative ties that benefit from a dedicated regional link, while Madagascar's connection through Toamasina — the country's principal port city — anchors the system to a commercially meaningful hub. Within the broader Indian Ocean cable map, LION functions as a regional spur rather than a trunk route, but that distinction does not diminish its practical importance to the territories it serves.