SAex (South Atlantic Express Cable)

Overview

The South Atlantic Express Cable, known as SAex, is a planned submarine cable system designed to bridge the South Atlantic, connecting the eastern coast of South Africa to the eastern seaboard of the United States via Brazil. The system is owned and developed by SAEx International Ltd.

Route and Landing Points

SAex is planned to land at two points in South Africa — Mtunzini and Yzerfontein — before traversing the South Atlantic to Fortaleza on Brazil's northeastern coast, and continuing north to Virginia Beach in the United States. A branch to Saint Helena, the remote British overseas territory in the mid-South Atlantic, forms a notable element of the route. Saint Helena has historically been among the most isolated landmasses on the planet in terms of submarine cable connectivity, and a landing there would represent a meaningful shift in the island's bandwidth options.

The dual South African landing points serve different parts of the country's coastline — Mtunzini on the east coast and Yzerfontein on the west — providing geographic diversity within the country itself.

Capacity and Design

SAex carries a design capacity of 108 Tbit/s, positioning it as a high-capacity system intended to meet substantial demand across the South Atlantic corridor. The builder of the system has not been documented.

Regional Context

The South Atlantic remains one of the less densely cabled ocean basins relative to the Pacific and North Atlantic, and a direct, high-capacity link between South Africa and South America addresses a gap that has long pushed traffic onto indirect routing. For Fortaleza, already a well-established cable hub on Brazil's northeastern tip, SAex would add another strand to its growing web of international connections. The system was planned for a 2021 ready-for-service date.