Submarine fibre-optic cables (subsea telecommunications cables) handle up to 99% of our global internet traffic and communications, underlining the operations of numerous businesses and institutions across the world. Their continued proliferation will bring higher network speeds and connect more people and regions to digital communications. Yet, whilst the world is on a roll in laying down more of this critical infrastructure, it is severely underequipped in properly maintaining them. Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. As the region with the fastest-growing population and a large gap to fill in terms of internet connectivity, Sub-Saharan Africa is occupying an increasingly important position in the world’s network of submarine fibre-optic cables.
Sub-Saharan Africa in the growing demand for Subsea telecommunications cables repairs
Once a subsea telecommunications cable is laid, many potential costs are incurred: the future need for repairs due to factors such as human activity, natural disasters, and mechanical failure. Filling this role is the registered fleet of 63 ships that has subsea telecommunications cable repair capabilities, 60% of which are not solely dedicated to repairs but are also cable-laying ships. For Sub-Saharan Africa, it is serviced by the 44-year-old Léon Thévenin, the sole permanent subsea telecommunications cable repair vessel stationed at Cape Town to care for the cables connected to this massive region.
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It is true that many cables are soon to be retired, with forecasts predicting the decommissioning of roughly 450,000 kilometers of cable over the course of 2026-2035. This means there will be legacy cables that no longer require constant maintenance or fault servicing. Yet, the laying of new cables far outpaces this retirement trend, with an expected 1,010,000 kilometers of new cable laid during that same time period. New cables carry higher technical resilience, but they remain just as vulnerable to external physical force, which accounts for the vast majority of subsea telecommunications cable faults. Consequently, overall demand for repairs will likely increase rather than shrink. Following the global trend, a net increase of subsea telecommunications cables and subsequent faults is expected for Sub-Saharan Africa. Major new subsea telecommunications cables are planned for Sub-Saharan Africa – such as Via Africa and the ReuNION Cable, with multiple landing sites in the region. It is imperative that regional repair capacity increases to match growing infrastructural needs.
Existing deficiencies in repair capacity
According to industry reports, Sub-Saharan Africa’s current situation seems to be fine on paper. In fact, it was forecasted that only around one vessel is needed to cover not just the region but the whole continent’s repair demands. It makes sense if we are only looking at the amount of expected subsea telecommunications cable faults, but this is not the case as we take distance into consideration.
To illustrate how this relying on a single permanently stationed repair vessel is insufficient in answering potential demands in Sub-Saharan Africa, a report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in July 2026 highlighted how vulnerable this one-ship baseline really is through a hypothetical scenario where subsea telecommunications cable faults occur simultaneously near Mombasa and Dakar. One vessel clearly couldn’t cover both faults at the same time, not to mention the long transit time needed for the vessel to travel from one side of the continent to the other. North Africa is comparatively more well covered, such as by the Mediterranean Cable Maintenance Agreement (MECMA), which provides two repair vessels based in nearby European ports to answer maintenance demands. And it should be noted that even so, the Mediterranean region itself is currently suffering from a repair vessel shortage.
Even though Sub-Saharan Africa is technically supplemented by several vessels that are based in other regions, the overall repair readiness has proven to be insufficient. Recalling the high profile case of the 2024 underwater landslide in the Trou Sans Fond Canyon off the coast of Cote d’Ivoire, damaging four cables – MainOne, West Africa Cable System (WACS), Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), South Atlantic-3 (SAT-3). Under the ACMA (Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement), the C.S Sovereign arrived from London to repair the MainOne, WACS and ACE. The remaining cable (SAT-3) was repaired by the Léon Thévenin, which was directly responsible for the cable’s maintenance. It took the vessel 16 days to reach the fault area, and the repair operation by C.S Sovereign was even slower as it had to travel from London, taking more than a month since incident to fully repair the first cable (ACE). Distance matters as in another major incident the same year offshore of the Mtunzini Cable Landing Station, it only took the Léon Thévenin 4 days in transit to reach the site, repairing both the SEACOM and Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) cables in 3 weeks and restoring full internet capacity to East Africa.
Fulfilling demands whilst balancing the books
It is clear that Sub-Saharan Africa requires new ships and new local bases of operations to fulfil subsea telecommunications cable repair demands. However, the situation is more complex than simply buying more vessels. The maintenance cost of subsea telecommunications cables is highly fragmented between various entities within regional maintenance agreements. Simply calling for adding more repair vessels and supporting port infrastructure is not nuanced enough to solve the repair shortage on its own. To start, we must first understand more about these maintenance consortia and their subsea telecommunications cable repair vessels.
Existing maintenance consortia (such as 2OCMA) are usually composed of private sector companies (e.g Orange) and state owned enterprises (e.g China Telecom). This includes telecom companies, technology corporations (e.g Meta). These consortia are also run on a non-profit basis (e.g ACMA), with members pooling up resources to fund things such as repair vessel and remotely operated vehicle contracts. The mode of commission of repair vessels under these consortia varies. For instance, the 2OCMA has a long-term contract with Orange Marine (which is a subsidiary under Orange), to provide a permanent stationed vessel – the Léon Thévenin. The ship is based in Cape Town, and the depot is owned by Telkom SA. Other consortia hire external, third-party marine companies such as the Global Marine Group to fulfil their repair vessel needs.
Hence, we must look toward expanding the contracted fleets of existing consortium agreements like 2OCMA and ACMA. For example, upscaling the 2OCMA from its one-ship configuration by contracting multiple vessels – which allows for simultaneous response to faults on different sides of the continent. If possible, to establish another contracted repair vessel base in either East or West Africa to provide quick, localised responses. ACMA may also set up a contracted forward base in West Africa, adding to the four existing bases in Europe, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Beyond consortia, private regional agreements such as APMA and E-marine technically cover parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and should be considered and coordinated during these expansion efforts.
Notwithstanding the higher costs of maintaining an expanded repair fleet, expanding repair capacity still deserves serious consideration given the astronomical costs of unaddressed faults. The high-profile Cote d’Ivoire underwater landslides in 2024 demonstrated this reality, with Nigeria alone suffering an estimated 593.6 million USD in economic losses from cable disruptions in the first four days. Even though it is unlikely that having more repair vessels can reduce this upfront loss, it can reduce the cascading systemic risks that are incurred as the cable remains unrepaired for weeks. On the other hand, the expected cost of maintaining a repair vessel goes up to 100,000 USD per day, with individual missions costing up to 3 million USD. These costs are undoubtedly heavy, yet this is to avoid the unquantifiable ripple effects from cascading systemic risks. And in the unlikely event that even the rerouted cables also suffered from damage, a delayed repair response could result in a prolonged internet blackout with insurmountable losses.
It is understandable that not all telecom companies operate on the scale of hyperscalers or can afford the high maintenance costs of an expanded fleet and infrastructure. Since cost is usually shared, governments and hyperscalers active in the region should actively close possible funding gaps – aligning financial contributions directly with their systemic exposure. Just as the ITU recommended the establishment of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for underserviced regions, establishing PPPs for this purpose will likely help streamline the process by providing platforms for easier coordination.
Alternatives for consideration
It is also possible to consider improving the operational capacity of existing vessels. Similarly challenged by a deficit in repair capacity despite a growing network of subsea telecommunications cables, the European Commission announced on June 23, 2026, its efforts to fund adaptable modules that can be “rapidly installed and deployed by existing repair vessels”. Tentatively costing 40 million Euros, this initiative aims to bolster Europe’s local cable repair capabilities. As peers facing a similar challenge, organisations such as the African Union can consider establishing similar, localized mechanisms to strengthen regional repair readiness. The positioning of such modules in Cape Town could allow the Léon Thévenin to respond to crises even faster. South Africa at the present already stands out globally as the country with the shortest “commencement time”, only needing 1.95 days on average before the repair vessel disembarks. With the world’s median at 8 days, South Africa’s system provides a powerful blueprint for future regional bases in Africa and the rest of the World. This would likely bolster the operational capacity of repair vessels in the region, yet, it does not fully remedy the dangers caused by the insufficient amount of repair vessels in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Governments in the region should also ensure the relative ease and convenience in acquiring repair permits in Exclusive Economic Zones, avoiding bureaucratic delays to minimize service disruption. This could be achieved through explicitly exempting cable repairs from cabotage laws, implementing fast track, single-window approval for repair vessels that have been previously registered. This would allow them to carry out repair work much faster than before, with minimal delays once arriving on site.
It is important to note that interventions surrounding repair vessels are not the sole answer to this problem. Increasing cable resilience through the use of tougher materials, optimized positioning of cables, and real-time monitoring can serve as vital, simultaneous interventions to alleviate strain on the repair network and protect the region’s network stability. Yet, it does not distract us from the centrality of repair needs. Expanding repair readiness is not merely about staying online — it is about ensuring that Sub-Saharan Africa remains a resilient and fast-growing region.
Chan Tsz Yung Frederick is a Master’s student in International Relations and Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute. He is focused on issues of technology, the environment and space governance, with a regional focus in Africa and Asia. He previously graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Hong Kong.