Greater Achievements:

Cameroon-Brazil Submarine Cable Link Underway

-The minister of P&T, Minette Libom Li Liken, launched the Fcfa 200 billion, 6000km long submarine optic fibre project on Tuesday, 22 May 2018, in the seaside resort town of Kribi.

By Innocent Kum in Yaounde

P&T Minister, Minette Libom Li- Likeng Launched the Project

A project to lay 6,000 km of sub-marine optical fiber to link Kribi in Cameroon and Fortaleza in Brazil, South America, has been launched.

            Posts and Telecommunication Minister, Minette Libom Li- Likeng launched the project in the seaside city of Kribi Tuesday, 22 May, in the presence of several dignitaries including the Equato-Guinean Minister of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications, Eucario Bacale Angue and the General Manager of Cameroon Telecommunications, Cametel, David Nkotto Emane.

            The project dubbed “South Atlantic Inter Link, SAIL, that is expected to be completed by September this year will be the first direct sub-marine optic fibre link between Africa and South America.

           

CAMTEL GM, David Nkoto Emane, could not conceal his joy

The solemn launching of the giant project Tuesday set the CS recorder ship bearing the 6000km long cables to proceed with the laying process which is done with assistance of experts from the Chinese telecoms giant, Huawei Mobile.

            Speaking at a solemn ceremony to mark the launching, P&T Minister, Minette Libom Li Likeng, said the project that is now entering its most crucial phase, falls within the framework of the national Broadband Network 2 program which began in August 2016.

            She said the South Atlantic Inter Link, SAIL, which is a 6,000 kilometer system to run from Kribi in Cameroon, to Fortaleza in Brazil, upon realisation, will have a capacity of 32 Tbit/s and will establish Cameroon as a major transit point for telecoms traffic between Africa and South America.

            Libom Li Liken pointed out that the new cable system will also help Cameroon to meet its growing demand for affordable Internet access. 

            "For the sub-region, the Cameroon-Brazil submarine cable will undoubtedly allow a substantial development of telecommunications infrastructure between these countries” Minister Libom also said.

           

The Giant CS Recorder Ship Bearing the 6,000km long cables

Explaining details of the project earlier, the Director General of the Cameroon Telecommunications, CAMTEL, David Nkoto Emane, said the SAIL whose installation speed is between 80km to 120 km per day and estimated at 200 billion FCFA, will propel Cameroon towards digital independence and will place Cameroon among the first 20 African countries to have submarine cables and whose national economies derive significant benefits from telecoms operations.

            "When completed, it will provide new international connectivity to facilitate bandwidth demand between Africa and South America and support the booming economies in the two continents," Nkoto Emane said, appreciating Camtel’s partners for making the project possible.

            He was emphatic that the principal reason for the project is to increase, improve and secure the broadband service and infrastructure offered in Cameroon and sub-Saharan Africa.

            “The SAIL project will accelerate development and improvement of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, infrastructure; encourage knowledge promotion and transfer of skills,” Nkotto Emane boasted.

            In his welcome remarks to his guests, the government delegate to the Kribi City Council, Louis Jacques Mazo, thanked the government for choosing Kribi to host the giant project, which he described as indispensable for the economic growth and emergence of the nation.

            Mr. Mazo said with the coming of the giant project, Kribi residents and those of the entire Ocean Division are looking up to gaining direct and/or indirect jobs.

            To make the project possible, the state of Cameroon through CAMTEL, has partnered with leading telecoms giants in the world, including Huawei Technologies, China Unicom (a Chinese telecommunications operator) and the China Export-Import bank, EXIM Bank, which provided needed financing for the project.