West Africa Cable System (WACS)
Active14,500 km submarine cable system.
Key facts
- Status
- Active
- Length
- 14,500 km
- Design capacity
- 14.5 Tbit /s
- Owners
- Consortium of 12 carriers: MTN Group, Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, Congo Telecom, Office Congolais des Postes et Telecommunications (OCPT), PT Comunicações, Togo Telecom, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA, Vodacom
- Supplier
- Alcatel-Lucent
- Connects
- Angola,Cabo Verde,Cameroon,Côte d'Ivoire,Ghana,Namibia,Nigeria,Portugal,Spain,Togo,United Kingdom
- Official website
- wacscable.com
Landing points
- South_Africa Yzerfontein, South Africa, South_Africa Yzerfontein
- Namibia Swakopmund, Namibia, Namibia Swakopmund — Namibia
- Angola Luanda, Angola, Angola Luanda — Angola
- Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo Muanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo Muanda
- Republic_of_the_Congo Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo, Republic_of_the_Congo Pointe Noire
- Cameroon Limbe, Cameroon, Cameroon Limbe — Cameroon
- Nigeria Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria, Nigeria Lekki — Nigeria
- Togo Lomé, Togo, Togo Lomé — Togo
- Ghana Accra, Ghana, Ghana Accra — Ghana
- Ivory Coast Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ivory Coast Abidjan — Côte d'Ivoire
- Cape Verde Praia, Cape Verde, Cape Verde Praia — Cabo Verde
- Spain Las Palmas, Spain, Spain Las Palmas — Spain
- Portugal Seixal, Portugal, Portugal Seixal — Portugal
- UK Highbridge, United Kingdom}}, UK Highbridge — United Kingdom
Overview
The West Africa Cable System (WACS) spans 14,500 km along the Atlantic seaboard, connecting South Africa to Portugal and the United Kingdom via a string of landing points that trace the western coastline of Africa. With a design capacity of 14.5 Tbit/s, the system represents a significant pipeline for international bandwidth across a region where undersea cable connectivity has historically been constrained.
Route and Landing Points
WACS lands at fourteen points across thirteen territories. Beginning in South Africa at Yzerfontein, the cable runs northward through Swakopmund in Namibia, Luanda in Angola, Muanda in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pointe Noire in the Republic of the Congo, Limbe in Cameroon, and Lekki on Nigeria's Lagos coast. It continues through Lomé in Togo, Accra in Ghana, and Abidjan in Ivory Coast before crossing to the Atlantic islands of Praia in Cape Verde and then on to Las Palmas in Spain's Canary Islands. The cable terminates at Seixal in Portugal and Highbridge in the United Kingdom.
This routing gives the system a distinctly regional character. Rather than bypassing smaller coastal nations, WACS provides direct landings across much of Francophone, Lusophone and Anglophone Africa in a single arc — a practical advantage for carriers seeking diverse onward routing options.
Ownership and Construction
Alcatel-Lucent built the system for a twelve-member consortium that reflects the cable's geographic spread. Owners include MTN Group, Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, Congo Telecom, the Office Congolais des Postes et Telecommunications (OCPT), PT Comunicações, Togo Telecom, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA and Vodacom. The breadth of that consortium — spanning national carriers, regional operators and global players — underscores the shared interest in securing reliable capacity along a coastline that had long depended on limited cable options.
Regional Significance
WACS sits within a growing web of cables serving sub-Saharan Africa, complementing both west-coast and east-coast systems that together are reshaping how African networks connect internationally. Its direct Portugal and United Kingdom terminations provide European interconnection options without the need for additional overland transit.