The availability of specific infrastructures and the experience and know-how in the industry are the factors that make Altice Portugal the supplier of the submarine cable station for mooring the Equiano cable in Portugal. It is at Altice Portugal's Sesimbra International Submarine Cable Station that this new submarine cable will be moored, linking South Africa and several countries on the west coast of Africa directly to Europe.
Portugal is a hub for the termination and interconnection of international submarine cable capacity and traffic due to its privileged geographical location - extensive Atlantic coastline and vast maritime territory - allowing connections between continents and attracting foreign investment. Altice Portugal plays a strategic role, in terms of consultancy and infrastructure services, supported by its historical experience of more than half a century in this area of submarine telecommunications at national and international level.
Ana Figueiredo, CEO of Altice Portugal, took part in the ceremony promoted by Google at Forte de Santiago, in Sesimbra, which was also attended by the Prime Minister, António Costa and the Minister for Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos.
"Altice Portugal, as the leader of the electronic communications sector in Portugal, is proud to be the gateway to Europe for such important assets in the communications sector as Equiano, also reinforcing its commitment to the economy and the country," said Ana Figueiredo.
Currently, Altice Portugal also owns the two International Submarine Cable Stations in the country that have been in operation for the longest - Sesimbra and Carcavelos - the latter being the mooring point for the first submarine telegraph cable over 150 years ago.
Altice Portugal has been the company responsible for operating the submarine cables linking the mainland to the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, as well as the submarine cable system linking the Azores islands.
All this long experience has led to the development of commercial, technical and operational teams with a wealth of knowledge in this sector, particularly in the areas of project management, consultancy, provision of infrastructure services, operation and maintenance.
The Equiano submarine cable (a tribute to the Nigerian writer and abolitionist who was enslaved) runs from Portugal to South Africa with branching units along the way (Togo, Nigeria and Namibia), which can be used to extend connectivity to other African countries. It is a state-of-the-art infrastructure with a capacity of 144 Tbps based on spatial division multiplexing (SDM) technology, 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.
Altice Portugal thus consolidates its strategy as a player on the submarine communications map and strengthens its ecosystem of international partnerships in key areas of activity in the sector and in the economy.