Dolphin Telecom to Land $700m ACE Cable in Nigeria

Dolphin Telecom, a global communications carrier and operator of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system in West Africa has announced that it would land the $700 million submarine cable in Nigeria in the fourth quarter of this year.

The ACE cable initiated by France Télécom-Orange and administered by a consortium of 16 operators links Europe to the West Coast of Africa through an unprecedented connectivity.

Efficient and competitive, the cable system uses the most advanced high-speed broadband fiber optic technology and is a vector of social development and economic growth in Africa, reducing the digital divide

Dolphin Telecom with an overall investment on the ACE submarine cable of over $70 million, the cable has full landing rights in Accra, Dakar, Lagos, Gambia and Senegal, and part of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in Mauritania and Guinea Conakry covering 80 per cent of West African market.

ACE will pass through UK, France, Portugal, Canary Islands, and have touch points in 21 African countries.

Mr. Abdel Mageid Elzain, managing director of  Dolphin Telecom said “With our extensive global network and strong reliability, Dolphin Telecom aims to be the driving force for the business community of West Africa functioning as a catalyst in extending global reach, high quality connectivity and unsurpassed levels of reliability and uptime”.

Mr. Francis Okoh, chief commercial officer, Dolphin Telecom said ACE submarine cable will bring seamless connectivity to Africa with massive bandwidth to ensure affordable internet access to the continent.

Dolphin Telecom is the second largest investor in ACE submarine cable system.  It will operate only in the wholesale market.

Okoh said Dolphin Telecom has built a massive datacentre in Agbara, Ogun State, completed its landing station in Lagos and is awaiting the landing of the ACE cable in the country which will complement other operators in the market like Glo 1, Main One Cable, WACS and SAT3 cables.

“We are partnering with telecom operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who will take the bandwidth to the retail market. We have built one of the largest datacentres in Africa. We want to do business the way business should be done. In terms of focus, we know what we want to do and we will redefine wholesale business. Our model is backend support not building base stations,” he said.

Dolphine has partnered with Telecom Italia, Spaco Italia, Medallion Communications, Venema Advies Nigeria, Comsys Ghana, Expressor Telecommunications Group, Bluecloud, Ghana and Afcom, Sierra Leone among many others for collocation, supply of internet protocol (IP), building of data centre, capacity and loop agreement and others.

Dolphin Telecom is a joint venture between Expresso Telecom Group and Haggar Trading UAE specialised in wholesale Internet Bandwidth for Carriers, ISPs and Enterprise customers.

Members of the ACE consortium  include France Telecom , Expresso Telecom Group, BeninTelecoms, Cote d’lvoire Telecom, Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicacoes, Gamtel, International Mauritania Telecom, Cable Consortium of Liberi, Office Congolals des Postes et Telecommunications, Orange Cameroon, Orange Guinea, Orange Mali, Orange Niger, PortugalTelecom, The Gabonese Republic, The Republic of EquatorialGuinea, Sierra Leone Cable, Sonatel and Sotelgui.