Since 20 October 2016, Cameroonian engineers from Camtel, the historical telecoms operator, and Huawei Technologies, the Chinese equipment manufacturer; have been working in the area surrounding the Cameroonian town of Kribi.

According to credible sources, this, for them, is about determining the route for the 6,000 km-long sub-marine cable, which will link the city of Fortaleza in Brazil to the seaside resort of Kribi, located in the Southern region of Cameroon.

According to our sources, these exploration works, which will end in December 2016, are undertaken with a specialised vessel. In practical terms, in addition to determining the route of the cable, the ongoing works will help know the quantity of cable and types of sheathes to be used during the deployment of the infrastructure.

All things which would contribute to fine-tuning the final budget of the project, which is currently estimated at approximately FCfa 270 billion.

Built by a consortium gathering Camtel and the company China Unicom, the first optic fibre cable to link Africa to the American continent, labelled “South Atlantic Inter Link”, is scheduled for delivery during the last quarter of 2018, according to the official timeline.

It will be the fourth sub-marine cable to which Cameroon will be connected. After SAT 3, deployed by the State of Cameroon, Wacs, deployed by the local subsidiary of MTN International and ACE, under deployment by Orange Cameroun.