25 African nations will have high-speed Internet after ACE project's next phase

Telecommunications firm Orange and other members of the ACE consortium said on Wednesday that they have launched the next phase of the ACE submarine cable system, which will expand the availability of digital services through broadband connectivity in Africa.

This phase includes the extension of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system to South Africa. The extension will run from the island of Sao Tomé & Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea, to South Africa. At the completion of this phase, ACE's coverage will provide high-speed Internet access to 25 nations.

Overall capacity will reach 12.8 Tbps through 100-Gbps technology.

ACE has invested approximately $700 million so far on construction of the cable, $250 million of which came from the Orange Group and its subsidiaries.