Angola Cables was established as a wholesale network operator backed by multiple Angolan telecom shareholders. Its creation set the institutional base for building new international connectivity routes, including a direct South Atlantic link to Brazil.
Construction activities for SACS began in 2016 as the project moved from contracting into build-out and preparation for marine works. This transition mattered because it turned the plan for a new South Atlantic route into an executable infrastructure program with defined landing points and system specifications.
Angola Cables and NEC announced the SACS build contract had come into force and that the system was planned to be ready for service in mid-2018. The announcement defined SACS’s core design goals: a direct Angola–Brazil route across the South Atlantic and an initial design capacity of 40 Tb/s.
Angola Cables began launching (laying) the SACS fiber-optic submarine cable from Sangano on Angola’s coast. Starting the marine installation was a key milestone because it began the physical build of the 6,200 km ocean crossing needed to connect Angola to Brazil directly.
The MONET submarine cable system became ready for service, connecting Brazil to the United States and landing in Fortaleza. This mattered for SACS because Fortaleza could act as a regional hub where South Atlantic traffic could interconnect to other international routes and data centers.
Cable-industry timelines recorded SACS as a 2018 system linking Angola and Brazil, with the published design of four fiber pairs and 100 Gb/s wavelengths. Inclusion in these reference lists mattered as an external confirmation that the project reached completion and entered the global catalog of operational submarine systems.
SACS was completed to the point of a major physical milestone: the cable landing in Fortaleza after crossing the Atlantic from Sangano. The landing was important because it marked the completion of the main ocean span needed for a direct Africa–South America route (pending final testing and service activation).
Environmental and coastal permitting work supporting SACS’s marine installation was highlighted publicly after the Fortaleza landing. This step mattered because subsea cable projects must meet permitting requirements to lawfully install and operate shoreline and nearshore infrastructure.
Network monitoring and reporting indicated SACS began carrying live traffic around September 18, 2018. Early traffic showed a practical change: latency between Brazil and Luanda dropped sharply compared with earlier routes that often transited other continents.
Angola Cables and industry sources reported SACS was online and ready for service in late September 2018. This was the transition from a built-and-tested asset to a marketable wholesale network route between Angola and Brazil.
Research and regional connectivity organizations reported that SACS operations had started and emphasized its 40 Tb/s design capacity and Southern Hemisphere Africa–South America link. This mattered because it signaled broader ecosystem use beyond a single operator, including interest from education and research networks for high-capacity paths.
By the end of 2018, SACS had shifted Angola–Brazil connectivity from indirect routing (often via Europe or North America) to a direct South Atlantic path. The outcome was a new infrastructure baseline for lower-latency intercontinental traffic and a foundation for Fortaleza and Sangano to function as strategic interconnection points for onward network expansion.
South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) (2017–2018) — Angola–Brazil connectivity project