Angola Cables network traffic climbs to record peak in top 50 – CAIDA

• Ranks 24th globally, first in Africa to receive global rating
• Sets up TelCable Nigeria
• Nigeria has lessons to learn

Ben Eguzozie

Angola Cables, a global provider of network services and digital solutions, has hit a record peak of 18448 TeraBits Per Second (Tbps) in data traffic across its cables network. The company AS number is now ranked 24th in the Centre for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA)’s official global rankings, being the only African network operator in the top 50.

The increase in digital content consumption, the rapid expansion of cloud computing services and the ever-rising demand for high speed, low latency connectivity are just some of the factors that have led to the record levels of traffic being registered across the Angola Cables network, according to CAIDA.

Angola Cables is an internationally established ICT and digital solutions and network services provider, and has been ranked as the most interconnected operator on the African continent. Through its integrated IP networks and data centres, it provides extensive, low-latency, direct access connectivity to the largest IXPs, Tier 1 operators and global content providers.

Rui Faria, executive board member and chief commercial officer for Angola Cables, said, many of the hyperscalers, content providers and other carriers have been using the South Atlantic configuration of the SACS, Monet and WACS cables as a convenient redundancy option to connect to destinations in the USA and the UK and Europe using EllaLink.

“The recent cable faults experienced in parts of Africa and the Red Sea has 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 said.

He added, “At present the Angola Cables fibre network point is accounting for more than 70% of the internet and data traffic flows to and from Africa, hyperscalers, streaming and gaming networks are using SACS as well as the Angola Cables’ backbone and its partner networks to connect to Europe and Asia at lower latencies.”

The southern African company has also established TelCables Nigeria, the local operation for Nigeria and West Africa countries of Angola Cables.

According to Fernando Fernandes, chief executive officer for TelCables Nigeria, “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)”.

Fernandes said the global rating of AngolaCables strengthens the position of TelCables Nigeria brand, as a trusted name in the market. “Our status as a reliable operator, fostering strong relationships with both local and international customers, is a testament to our resilience, commitment to good connectivity, security, and product diversity.

Angola Cables has also registered a substantial uptick in traffic volumes over the Monet Cable connecting the USA to South America, now accounting for over 20 percent of the data traffic between North and South America. “With the option to connect to the main centres in Europe via the EllaLink subsea cable and reduced latencies of around 30%, many companies are seeing this as an attractive option for their peering and IP Transit requirements.

According to CAIDA, Angola Cables AS 37468 is now ranked 24th in their official global rankings, and the only African network operator in the top 50. The CAIDA rankings are determined by the ‘cone size’ or number of connections linked to its registered Autonomous System Number (ASN) and highlights the number of direct and indirect customers or links which is inferred from observed BGP paths. Today, Angola Cables’ has capacity across more than 80 000 km subsea cable network with multiple links to a growing number of data centres and global IXPs.

Faria maintains that the increase in traffic is strengthening Angola Cables’ position in the global and African market as a consistently reliable network service provider, allowing us to expand our services and invest in new technologies and strategic partnerships to better serve our customers.

AngolaCables through its owned, high-capacity SACS, Monet, WACS and third-party submarine cable networks, directly connects to more than 30 Points of Presence and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

The company also operates two data centres, AngoNAP Fortaleza Tier III (Brazil) and the data centre, AngoNAP Luanda (Angola), and manages PIX in Brazil and Angonix Angola – one of the largest (IXPs in Africa.  Through its partners and resellers in selected markets it offers advanced and secure connectivity solutions and services to a range of customers across multiple industries.

TelCables West Africa is a Nigerian provider of network services and digital solutions, and is the local operation for Nigeria and West Africa countries of Angola Cables. The company also provides a wide range of Cloud and integration services, IP networks and integrated access worldwide to data centres, which provide direct, comprehensive, and low-latency access connectivity to the largest IXPs, Tier 1 operators and global content providers.  It specializes in connectivity and IT solutions and services as well as the commercialisation of international data circuit capacity and IP Transit via submarine cables. Its shared values and mission are to provide secure and low-latency connectivity to companies from West Africa to worldwide users.

As the most connected network operator in Africa, it provides direct routings from West Africa to the USA and South America and from West Africa to London at the lowest latency. It has presence across several Nigerian IP hubs from Lekki, WACS CLS, Medallion DC, Rack Centre and others, and connections across Africa via the Djoliba network.

According to industry experts, the Nigerian IT sector has a lot of lessons to learn from the Angola Cables feat towards actualising a notable recognition on a global scale.