Name of the Project
Equiano subsea cable.

Location
Equiano will start in western Europe and run along the west coast of Africa, between Portugal and South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Google.

Project Description
Equiano is a private subsea cable that will connect Africa with Europe.

Google’s private subsea cables all carry the names of historic luminaries. Equiano is named after Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy.

The cable’s state-of-the-art infrastructure is based on space-division multiplexing technology, with about 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.

Equiano will be the first subsea cable to incorporate optical switching at the fibre-pair level, rather than the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching. This greatly simplifies the allocation of cable capacity, providing Google with the flexibility to add and reallocate it in different locations as needed.

The cable will have branching units along the way that can be used to extend connectivity to additional African countries. The first branch is expected to land in Nigeria.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
The cable is fully funded by Google.

Planned Start/End Date
A contract to build the cable was signed in the fourth quarter of 2018. The project is expected to be completed in 2021.

Latest Developments
Liquid Intelligent Technologies business Liquid Dataport has reported a surge of Internet traffic on Equiano after a break across multiple subsea cables.

On August 6, 2023, reports emerged of a natural rock fall in the Congo Canyon, off the coast of West Africa, causing breaks in multiple subsea cables that are a critical part of the network infrastructure servicing the African continent.

“While work is under way to repair these cable systems, it will likely be some time before the complete restoration of services,” Liquid Dataport CEO David Eurin has said.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Alcatel Submarine Networks (construction contract).

Contact Details for Project Information
Google press team, email press@google.com.