

Undersea Cables (Africa & Indian Ocean Islands)
The Internet and undersea cables are synonymous.
Over ninety-nine percent of international data is transmitted by reinforced fibre optic cables at the bottom of the oceans, called submarine fibre-optic communications cables. These fibre-optic cables vary in length, with some tens of hundreds of thousands of miles in length, often landing at many landing stations en route. These cables are laid by special cable-laying ships and have roughly a 25-year lifespan.
In short, fibre-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another via pulses of light sent through an optical fibre. This is the same type of fibre-optic cable used in the undersea cable network that powers the global Internet. A single fibre in a modern undersea fibre-optic cable is capable of carrying in excess of 10 Tbps of capacity.
Founder of Fibre Cable
Any good telecoms scholar has probably come across Charles K. Kao. But even if you aren’t familiar with Kao, you’ve benefitted from his work. You might know him better as the father of fiber optic communication.
Kao’s biography tells the story of a child born in China in the 1930s. He enrolled at St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong in the late 1940s. Years later, he made it to Woolwich Polytechnic in London, and after that he pursued research, receiving his PhD in electrical engineering from University College London.
It wasn’t until the 1960s at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow, Essex, that Kao got involved in the work that would define his career. While pursuing his PhD, Kao and co-workers did their pioneering work with fiber optics, exploring the technology as a telecommunications medium. Read more . . .

Charles K. Kao
Undersea Cable Map – showing Africa and Indian Ocean Island Cables
The multitude of undersea cables serving the African continent and the Indian Ocean Islands can be found below. Click on each of the cable map thumbnails to see the map of the undersea cable.
<click for Undersea Cable map>
Need to know more?
Click HERE if you have any questions about undersea cables.