A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has kicked off the initiation of the Via Africa submarine cable project, a major new Europe–Africa submarine cable project that will connect Europe to Africa along the Atlantic coast.

Through a robust and proven consortium model, bringing together leading industry players including Canalink, Guilab, International Mauritania Telecom, Orange Group, Orange Côte d’Ivoire, Sonatel, Silverlinks, the new subsea system aims to connect Europe to South Africa.

The new open cable project is designed to contribute to greater diversity and resilience of international connectivity serving Africa by providing a different subsea route than existing infrastructure and strengthening the robustness of regional connectivity.

Landing points are planned in the UK, France and Portugal, with destinations along the Atlantic coastline such as the Canary Islands, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

Extensions further south support increased connectivity diversity and improved resilience for countries along the route.

The Via Africa system, managed as a consortium, enables participating partners seeking autonomy and sovereignty to co-invest in the infrastructure and take part in its governance.

“This robust and proven model allows investors to participate directly in the decisions regarding the design, deployment and exploitation of the system and contribute to decisions that best meet their needs,” the consortium said in a statement.

The initial telecommunications and digital player partners are open to additional partners potentially joining the project in the future.

As part of the initial phase of the project, consortium members will jointly finance a cable route study to identify the optimal cable route that balances resilience, technical feasibility and overall economic efficiency.

In parallel, the consortium is preparing the procurement process for selecting a cable supplier, marking the next step in the development of the system.