Connecting the world to Africa

Angola

Ângelo Gama, CEO of Angola Cables, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s expanding global presence, its adoption of cutting-edge technologies and its work with the oil and gas sector. Angola Cables is a global provider of internet connectivity, data centres and digital services.

How has Angola Cables developed its international presence?
Just recently, we opened two new points of presence (PoPs) in Singapore and Los Angeles. Our presence in Singapore gives us access to the vast Asian market, and in return companies in the East receive direct connectivity to the African continent. Customers can now access more than 30 major PoPs across the Angola Cables network.
We are the most interconnected network operator in Africa and rank among the top 22 internet and digital service providers in the world today.
We also own and operate the high-capacity, low-latency South Atlantic Cable System linking Luanda, Angola, to Fortaleza, Brazil, and together with the Monet and WACS [West Africa Cable System] cables, and through our partner networks on the EllaLink and Equiano Cables, we offer the fastest interconnectivity between Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia.
We have an established presence in Nigeria and West Africa, through our subsidiary TelCables Nigeria, which offers local network services and solutions. We have also made investments for enhancing our Nigerian infrastructure and upgraded our network connectivity across the southern African region to meet the increasing demands of our customers.
Our intent is to further entrench ourselves as an alternative to the larger international network operators. Through our established subsidiaries in Africa, Europe and Brazil, we can provide localised solutions and services and a robust, global network.
We are in a growth phase; there’s no doubt about that. As a wholesale operator with our own capacity and partnerships with other carriers and networks, we have an advantage in helping our customers connect to a wide range of services and solutions wherever they operate in the world.

What new technologies have you recently developed or implemented?
In 2024, we started to invest more in our own technology solutions. We’ve made a few significant investments into our on-demand cloud solution, Cloud2Africa. I think we have one of the best virtual cloud solutions in Africa. Evidence of this is shown by the high level of market interest and acceptance. While we have some cloud points here in Africa, we also have customers on our cloud nodes coming from Europe and the USA.
We really think that there’s no limit to where we can deploy our services. It is not just in the countries where Angola Cables is currently offering telecom services. Our intent is to expand our cloud solution to Africa by deploying several cloud nodes across Africa in the coming years.

How has your experience been with introducing new technologies in the oil and gas sector?
Traditionally, oil and gas companies have been very conservative in choosing the solutions they need to drive their business and operations. It is something that is common across the sector given the high value of upstream and downstream investments.
In recent years, the advantages that new technology brings to the exploration, drilling and extraction of oil and gas have been game-changing. We now have digital oilfields and digital maps and a range of sophisticated tools and applications to improve decision making, reduce investment risks and provide real-time information across every facet of the supply chain.
At Angola Cables, we have everything they need. We have the connectivity. We have the fastest route from Luanda to two of the world’s largest oil and gas capitals, Houston and Aberdeen. Through the fastest route, they can see what is happening at drill sites and rigs almost instantly.
This is an alternative to flying experts across the globe to acquire data, and it is done in the safest way possible since we have the fibre connectivity and the local PoPs to store data safely and securely. This is the type of technology that allows companies to operate at a lower cost, digitise their processes and optimise their operations. Ultimately, this leads to lower costs and a better return on investment within this capital-intensive industry.

What are the biggest challenges in expanding digital services in Angola and beyond?
Both the IT and telecom sectors are facing the same challenges. The primary challenge is the supply of energy and electricity needed to power the data centres, networks and basic infrastructure. The limited supply of electricity at present is what makes communications in Africa a little bit more expensive than in the rest of the world.
We must undertake several processes and expend considerable effort to provide effective and reliable internet connections. For the past decade many operators in Angola keep generators running just to offer internet services. This has proved to be a very expensive exercise for all concerned.
If we are to turn the internet into a commodity for the whole market, or at least the main cities in Angola, a steady and efficient supply of electricity is not just a basic requirement but an absolute necessity. Apart from that, we need to look at other ways in which we can promote the digitalisation of our country and the continent.
This issue is one of the reasons why we have introduced our Clouds2Africa solution, which is an alternative option to higher priced international offerings. Not only can we compete on an equivalent basis when it comes to the services available through our cloud platform, but this is a solution that can be paid for in local currency and activated almost immediately for any business or enterprise, wherever they might be.

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