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Angola Cables reports record-breaking surge in network traffic

Data traffic on Angola Cables' network reaches an all-time high of 18,448 Tbps, with the company’s AS Number now ranked 24th globally by the CAIDA, making it the only African network operator in the top 50.

The rapid rise in digital content consumption, the expansion of cloud computing services and the growing demand for high-speed, low-latency connectivity have led to record levels of traffic across the Angola Cables network.

Fernando Fernandes, Chief Executive Officer for TelCables Nigeria (the local operation for Nigeria and West Africa countries of Angola Cables), said: “This milestone underscores Angola Cables’ growing responsibility and responsiveness to customer needs in West African markets, with an emphasis on improved Service Level Agreements (SLA). Our status as a reliable operator, fostering strong relationships with both local and international customers, is a testament to our resilience, and commitment to good connectivity, security, and product diversity. In the long term, this reinforces the TelCables Nigeria brand, strengthening its position as a trusted name in the market.”

Rui Faria, Executive Board member and Chief Commercial Officer for Angola Cables, noted that many hyperscalers, content providers, and other carriers have been utilising the South Atlantic configuration of the SACS, Monet, and WACS cables as a reliable redundancy option to connect to destinations in the USA, UK and Europe via EllaLink. “The recent cable faults experienced in parts of Africa and the Red Sea have resulted in large volumes of traffic being diverted to other cables. But apart from this, we have seen a steady and significant growth in overall traffic over our backbone network.”

Faria added that the Angola Cables fibre network now handles over 70% of internet and data traffic to and from Africa. Hyperscalers, streaming platforms, and gaming networks are leveraging SACS, Angola Cables’ backbone, and its partner networks to connect to Europe and Asia with lower latency.

The Monet Cable, which links the USA to South America, has also seen a significant increase in traffic, now accounting for over 20% of data flow between North and South America. With the option to connect to major European hubs via the EllaLink subsea cable and enjoy reduced latencies of around 30%, many companies find this an appealing choice for their peering and IP Transit needs.

According to the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), Angola Cables’ AS 37468 is now ranked 24th globally and is the only African network operator in the top 50. CAIDA’s rankings are based on the “cone size,” or the number of connections linked to an Autonomous System Number (ASN), highlighting the extent of direct and indirect customer connections inferred from observed BGP paths. Angola Cables’ network spans over 80,000 km of subsea cables, with multiple connections to an increasing number of data centres and global IXPs.

Faria emphasised that the surge in traffic is reinforcing Angola Cables’ position in both the global and African markets as a reliable network service provider. This growth is enabling the company to expand its services, invest in new technologies, and form strategic partnerships to better serve its customers.