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Regional Fiber Infrastructure

Map of West African submarine, terrestrial fiber cable infrastructure, locations of IXPs & Data center.

The map depicts the regional connectivity of submarine cable companies to West African countries, its landing points and capacity, the terrestrial fiber connection from one country to another. It also shows the locations of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and Data center of each country. The total design landing capacity of the submarine companies which passes through West African region is 305.17 Tbps. There are ten (10) submarine cable companies (ACE – Africa Coast to Europe, GLO -1[2], Main One[4], ATLANTIS-2[1], SAT-3/WASC[5], WACS[5], EllaLink[1], Equiano[2], SHARE[2], Maroc Telecom[3] with thirty-five (35) landing points in the region. The red node in the map sends fiber data while the brown node receives it. There are fourteen (14) Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) but there is no IXPs in Cabo Verde and Guinea Bissau while Sierra Leone is not confirmed. Also, there are fifteen (15) Data Centers but there is no government-owned Data Center in Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Nigeria while Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone are not confirmed.

Telecoms Infrastructures

Internet exchange points

An Internet exchange point (IXP) is a physical location through which Internet infrastructure companies such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and CDNs connect with each other. These locations exist on the “edge” of different networks, and allow network providers to share transit outside their own network. The table below lists the number of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and their locations in the ECOWAS Member States.
Member States Number of IXPs Location
Benin 1 Cotonou
Burkina Faso 1 Burkina Faso Internet Exchange Point (BFIX), Ouagadougou
Cabo Verde
Cote d’Ivoire 1 CIVIX Internet Exchange Point
Gambia 1 Sere-Kunda Internet Exchange Point (IXPs)
Ghana 1 Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX), Accra
Guinea 1 Le Point d’Echange Internet de la Guinée (IXP-GUINEE), Conakry
Guinea Bissau
Liberia 1 MTN, Monrovia
Mali 1 Mali IX (MLIX), Bamako
Niger 1 Soudoure, near Niamey, maintained by ANSI
Nigeria 3 1. IXPN (Internet Xchange Point of Nigeria) has 10 points of presence                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               2. WAF-IX (West African Internet Xchange Point) managed by Mainone Cable in Lagos           3. AF-CIX (West Africa Interconnection Exchange) managed by rack centre in Lagos  All in Lagos
Senegal 1 Senegal Numeric, Dakar
Sierra Leone
Togo 1 Togo Internet Exchange Point (TGIX)
Total 14 IXPs  

Data center

A data center — also known as a datacenter or data centre — is a facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure that organizations use to assemble, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data. A business typically relies heavily on the applications, services and data contained within a data center, making it a critical asset for everyday operations. The table below lists the number of datacenters and their locations in the ECOWAS Member States.
Member States Number of Data Center Location
Benin 2 – Presidency, Cotonou – Ministry of Finance, Cotonou
Burkina Faso
Cabo Verde 2 – Praia – Mindelo
Cote d’Ivoire 2 – Abidjan
Gambia 1 – Central Govt. office
Ghana 1 – Ministry of Communication & Digitalization, Accra
Guinea  –
Guinea Bissau
Liberia 3 Ministry of Finance Central Bank Libtelco
Mali  –
Niger 1 – Soudoure, near Niamey
Nigeria
Senegal 2 – Center of Diamniadio – Center of the Technopole
Sierra Leone  –
Togo 1 – Lome Data Center belonging to the Société d’Infrastructures Numériques (SIN)
Total 15 Data Centers  

West African submarine cable companies and landing points

Ten (10) submarine cables pass through the West African coastal countries.
S/N Submarine Cable Companies Country Landing Points Number of landing points by submarine cable company Length of Cable Design Landing Capacity
1 Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) ·        Dakar, Senegal, ·        Banjul, the Gambia ·        Conakry, Guinea ·        Freetown, Sierra Leone ·        Monrovia, Liberia ·        Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire ·        Accra, Ghana ·        Cotonou, Benin ·        Lagos State, Nigeria ·        Surru, Guinea Bissau 10 17,000 km-long (France – South Africa) 20 Tbps
2 GLO -1
  • Lagos State, Nigeria
  • Accra, Ghana
2 9,800 km long (Lagos – UK) 2.5 Tbit/s
3 Main One ·        Dakar, Senegal, ·        Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire ·        Bonny, Nigeria ·        Accra, Ghana 4 14,000 km (Nigeria – UK) 1280 Gbit/s
4 ATLANTIS-2 ·        Dakar, Senegal 1 12,000 kilometers (Argentina – Portugal) 160 Gbit/s
5 SAT-3/WASC South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable ·        Dakar, Senegal ·        Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire ·        Accra, Ghana ·        Cotonou, Benin ·        Lagos, Nigeria 5 14,300km 780 Gbit/s
6 West Africa Cable System (WACS) 5 14,530 km (West Cape, South Africa – London, UK) 14.5 Tbit/s
7. EllaLink ·        Praia (Cabo Verde) 1 Approx. 5,900 km between Fortaleza (Brazil) and Sines (Portugal) 100 Tbit/s
8. Equiano (Google) ·        Lagos, Nigeria ·        Lome,Togo 2 15,000km from Portugal to South Africa 150 Tbps
9. Senegal horn Africa Regional Express (SHARE) ·        Dakar, Senegal ·        Praia, Cabo Verde 2 Spanning 720km in length and connecting from Dakar in Senegal to Praia in Cape Verde 16Tbps
10. Maroc Telecom West Africa ·        Kpeme,Togo ·        Cotonou, Benin ·        Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 3 8,300 km from Morocco to Benin Republic  
West Africa capacity 35 305.17 Tbit/s Design Landing Capacity

Description of submarine cable company connectivity by Member States and its landing points

Member States Number of Landing Points Submarine Cable Company
Benin 3 ACE, SAT-3/ WASC, Maroc Telecom West Africa
Burkina Faso 1*
Cabo Verde 3 WACS, EllaLink, SHARE
Cote d’Ivoire 5 ACE, Main One, SAT-3/WASC, WACS, Maroc Telecom West Africa
Gambia 1 ACE
Ghana 5 ACE, GLO -1, SAT-3/WASC, WACS, Main One
Guinea 1 ACE
Guinea Bissau 1 ACE
Liberia 1 ACE
Mali
Niger
Nigeria 6 ACE, Glo-1, MainOne, SAT3, WACS, Equiano
Senegal 5 ACE, Main One, ATLANTIS-2, SAT-3/WASC, SHARE
Sierra Leone 1 ACE
Togo 3 WACS, Equiano, Maroc Telecom West Africa
Total 35 landing points 10 Submarine Cable Companies
* Virtual landing point

Landlocked and coastal countries in West Africa

Landlocked Countries A landlocked country is a sovereign country that is enclosed entirely by land. A landlocked country may be surrounded by one or more countries having access to a high sea or by one or more landlocked countries. For several landlocked developing countries, the lack of sea access can pose a challenge economically, as access to trade routes is more limited. The West African region have three (3) landlocked countries – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Coastal countries The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is the area where land meets the sea or ocean, or a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. … The term coastal zone is a region where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs. The West African region have twelve (12) coastal countries – Benin Republic, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

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