Central African countries sign deals for greater network resiliency

The Republic of the Congo has signed a contract for the building of a data centre located along the coast in Pointe-Noire. This deal is one of the components of the Central Africa Backbone (CAB4) project. This project is aimed at providing countries within the Economic Community of Central African States with improved Internet access. The CAB4 cable system is a terrestrial fiber network that will connect Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, the Republic of the Congo, and the bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has simultaneously signed a deal for a Cable Landing Station (CLS). The DRC is expected to be connected to Google’s Equiano submarine cable that will run between Africa and Europe. The DRC currently has no redundancy and is seeking to prevent Internet blackouts similar to when the severing of the West Africa Cable System (WACS).