By the end of 2020, Cape Verde wants to be connected to the EllaLink submarine cable. Through Cabo Verde Telecom, the country has initiated the construction in Praia of the technical station which will house the new high-speed telecoms infrastructure. The work is expected to be completed in October.
The Republic of Cape Verde has made a commitment since 2018 to connect to a new optical fiber submarine cable – EllaLink – which will strengthen Internet connectivity in the country. To achieve this ambition, Cabo Verde Telecom, the incumbent telecommunications operator, initiated last week the construction of the technical terminal that will accommodate this new high-speed telecommunications infrastructure.
The terminal which will be installed in the industrial zone of Achada Grande Frente, in the city of Praia, is expected to be completed at the end of October 2020 so that the connection to EllaLink can be made by the end of the year, explained João Domingos Correia, chairman of the board of directors of Cabo Verde Telecom, who does not exclude that there may be “a date slip of one or two months at most”.
The EllaLink system is a latest generation submarine cable, composed of four pairs of fibers designed to meet the demand for traffic between Europe and Latin America. Cape Verde benefited in 2019 from funding of $ 25 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to mobilize the $ 60 million needed to connect there.
Ulisses Correia e Silva the Cape Verdean Prime Minister, who presided over the ceremony to launch the construction works on August 12, 2020, explained that by connecting to the EllaLink cable Cape Verde will “make a qualitative leap” in terms telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. He underlined: “we are making a strong bet to transform Cape Verde into a digital platform of quality services, a reference in Africa through a favorable ecosystem”.