South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC)
Active13,000 km submarine cable system, ready for service 2001.
Key facts
- Status
- Active
- Ready for service
- 2001
- Length
- 13,000 km
- Design capacity
- 340 Gbit /s
- Owners
- Telkom Group (13%), France Telecom (12.08%), Nitel (8.39%), AT&T (12.42%), VSNL (8.93%)
Landing points
- * Chipiona, Spain, * Chipiona — Spain
- Altavista, Gran Canaria, Spain, Altavista — Spain
- Sesimbra, Portugal, Sesimbra — Portugal
- Dakar, Senegal, Dakar — Senegal
- Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan
- Accra, Ghana, Accra — Ghana
- Cotonou, Benin, Cotonou — Benin
- Lagos, Nigeria, Lagos — Nigeria
- Douala, Cameroon, Douala — Cameroon
- Libreville, Gabon, Libreville — Gabon
- Cacuaco, Angola, Cacuaco — Angola
- Melkbosstrand, South Africa, Melkbosstrand — South Africa
Overview
South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable — known universally as SAT-3/WASC — runs approximately 13,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula down the length of the West African coastline to South Africa. Ready for service in 2001, it was among the first major fibre-optic systems to stitch together the Atlantic façade of Africa with a continuous submarine link, connecting communities and carriers from Senegal in the north to South Africa in the south.
Route and Landing Points
The system comes ashore at Sesimbra in Portugal and Chipiona on the Spanish mainland, with an additional Spanish landing at Altavista on Gran Canaria — a staging point that reflects the Canary Islands' long-standing role as a waystation between Europe and the African continent. Heading south, the cable touches Dakar (Senegal), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Cotonou (Benin), Lagos (Nigeria), Douala (Cameroon), Libreville (Gabon), and Cacuaco (Angola) before terminating at Melkbosstrand near Cape Town in South Africa. That sequence of twelve landing points covers the majority of West Africa's major coastal economies in a single linear system.
Capacity and Design
SAT-3/WASC was engineered to a design capacity of 340 Gbit/s. For its era that represented a substantial commitment to the corridor, though the system has since been supplemented by newer cables serving the same coastline.
Ownership
The consortium behind SAT-3/WASC brings together a range of carriers with strategic interests in the Africa–Europe route. AT&T holds the largest single share at 12.42 per cent, followed by France Telecom at 12.08 per cent, South Africa's Telkom Group at 13 per cent, India's VSNL at 8.93 per cent, and Nigeria's Nitel at 8.39 per cent. The spread of ownership across European, American, African and Asian operators reflects the system's design as a shared international facility rather than a single-carrier asset.
Regional Significance
SAT-3/WASC arrived at a time when West Africa's international connectivity was heavily dependent on satellite links. Its coastal routing established a template for subsequent systems serving the region, and it remains an active part of the infrastructure mix serving traffic between Africa and Europe.