Portugal: State, Google sign concession contract for new submarine cable

The concession contract for installing the new Equiano Submarine Cable to connect Portugal to South Africa was signed on Monday between the Portuguese State and Google Corporation, it was disclosed on Tuesday.

With a term of 25 years, the concession was signed by the Directorate General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM), representing the Portuguese state, and Blue Path Technology Unlimited Company, a company mandated for the purpose by Google LLC.

According to the DGRM, in a statement, the 15,000-km-long Equiano Submarine Cable, an investment by multinational Google Corporation, should begin operating in 2022.

The fibre optic cable will connect Portugal to South Africa, with intermediate connections to Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), Swakopmund (Namibia) and Saint Helena (Rupert’s bay).

The mooring of the Equiano cable named after Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a child, will be made at California beach, in Sesimbra (Setúbal), then connecting to the Submarine Cable Station in the municipality and, from there, to the terrestrial ‘backbone’.

“The Equiano cable authorisation process follows the similar process of the EllaLink cable, which connects Portugal to Brazil, increasingly positioning the national territory” as Europe’s gateway to next-generation digital connections.

The aim is to create unique opportunities for Portugal and faster access for European companies to the American and African markets, the statement said.

The new undersea fibre optic cables aim to provide ultra-broadband data transport and respond to new generations of computer applications and new computing concepts, such as cloud computing, e-commerce or video on demand. The growing number of users globally, DGRM said.