Morocco
Morocco sits at the northwestern corner of Africa, where four active submarine cables tie the country into European and African networks across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic seaboard.
Connectivity at a glance
- Cable systems
- 4active
- Landing points
- 0
- Resilience score
- 36
Cable systems serving Morocco
| Cable | Status | Ready for service | Length | Design capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATLAS | active | — | — | — |
| Atlas Offshore | active | — | — | — |
| Estepona–Tetuán | active | — | — | — |
| EURAFRICA | active | — | — | — |
Landing points
Landing point records for Morocco are being compiled.
Gateway at the Strait
Morocco occupies one of the most strategically positioned coastlines on the African continent. Facing both the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and separated from Spain by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, the country has natural advantages for submarine cable landings that connect Africa to Europe along the shortest possible crossing.
Four active cables serve Morocco: ATLAS, Atlas Offshore, Estepona–Tetuán, and EURAFRICA. Between them, they represent a mix of regional and longer-haul connectivity, though detailed route lengths and ready-for-service dates for each system are not yet documented in this register.
The Cable Mix
The Estepona–Tetuán cable is notable for what its name implies: a short crossing between the Spanish coast and the Moroccan city of Tetuán, threading the Strait of Gibraltar. Systems of this type typically serve as high-capacity bridges between neighbouring landmasses, and given the geographic proximity involved, this cable almost certainly represents one of Morocco's primary links to the European internet backbone.
ATLAS and Atlas Offshore suggest a separate strand of connectivity, likely oriented along the Atlantic coast or reaching into African regional networks, though the specifics of their routes are not yet confirmed in this register. EURAFRICA, as its name implies, is oriented toward the broader Europe–Africa corridor, reinforcing the pattern of Morocco functioning as a junction between the two continents.
Resilience and Redundancy
With four distinct cable systems documented, Morocco is not relying on a single point of entry. Multiple cables, even where their routes partially overlap, reduce the risk that a single fault event — a dragging anchor, a submarine landslide, or a cable break near a landing station — takes down the country's international capacity entirely. That said, the concentration of landings in the northern part of the country, where geography draws cables toward the Gibraltar crossing, means that any disruption in that corridor could affect more than one system simultaneously.
Morocco's Atlantic-facing coastline also provides an alternative vector for cables routing around Iberia toward Western Europe or branching south along Africa's western seaboard, which adds a degree of geographic separation that purely Mediterranean-oriented countries cannot claim.
Register Status
Landing point locations for all four cables serving Morocco are not yet documented in this register. Submissions from operators, researchers, and infrastructure professionals are welcomed through the site's contribution process.