The Nzadi Consortium, developer of the Nzadi Cable System Project, and WFN Strategies, one of the leading submarine cable planning, engineering and implementation firms, have commenced the Nzadi Cable System Project
The Nzadi Cable System will comprise a main trunk cable from Luanda to Cabinda in Angola, with a branching unit for future connection to Soyo, as well as potential system northward expansion to both the Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Nzadi Cable System will consist of a high fiber count up to 14 fiber pairs and will connect 15 to 30 offshore oil and gas assets. The ready for service date of the Nzadi Cable System is the fourth Quarter 2023.
WFN Strategies will act as the project planner, designer and implementer, establishing an initial understanding of the telecommunications infrastructure which will need to be constructed; creating a high level plan for developing that infrastructure; identifying any obstacles or issues in constructing the infrastructure; and providing budgetary cost estimates for the Nzadi Cable System. WFN Strategies and The Nzadi Costortium will then manage the procurement and implementation activities for the project.
Domingos Coelho, chairman of the board of directors for the Nzadi Cable System, said, “The project is committed to using as much local content as possible thereby benefiting local businesses that qualify for the provision of the civil works on the dry plant side in the Luanda, Soyo and Cabinda provinces of Angola. In the mid to long-term, services are expected to be contracted to local businesses for the provision of water, power, infrastructure security, dry plant maintenance services, as well as direct employment for predominantly young professional from said locations who will be required to operate and administer the subsea network.”
“Moreover, other conventional telecommunications operators and internet service providers operating in Angola will be invited to participate in co-funding and co-building the future system, thereby reducing investment and operating costs, risks and enabling the provision of higher quality services at significantly more affordable prices to end-users in what are expected to be newly connected and previously underserved regions of the country,” Coelho added. “As such the project sponsors view themselves as active and engaged social partners to the Angolan Government’s efforts of re-launching and developing the national economy and protecting the local environment. Furthermore, the Nzadi Cable System may potentially evolve beyond its primary objective of providing high capacity, low latency and highly reliable offshore connectivity to become an expanded regional network connecting Angola to the neighbouring Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo."
