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 |
|
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 |