ACE Cable System Upgrades Africa-Europe Route to More Than 30 Tbps With Ciena

The ACE cable system consortium has selected Ciena t o upgrade a key submarine route connecting Western Europe, West Africa and South Africa, as demand for high-capacity connectivity across Africa continues to grow.

The approximately 17,000-kilometre ACE system spans 18 landing stations and will use Ciena’s 6500 platform powered by WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) to deliver more than 30 Tb/s of capacity. The modernization is expected to expand bandwidth over existing infrastructure while limiting disruption to live traffic.

The upgrade is designed to meet rising connectivity demand from more than 500 million people across the regions served by the cable. Ciena Services is deploying WL6e over ACE’s existing submarine line terminal equipment, allowing the system to scale without requiring complex traffic migrations.

“International routes drive economic growth, digital inclusion, and cloud adoption across Africa, and this upgrade gives regional service providers a high-capacity path that reaches more than 500 million people. Ciena’s coherent optical technology and proven Services team give us confidence that we can keep customers connected while meeting expanding bandwidth needs.”

– Philippe Recco, President, ACE Management Committee

Ciena Services will also manage ongoing maintenance and transformation of the system as ACE prepares for growing demand for resilient connectivity within Africa and between Africa and Europe.

“Ciena supports this vital link between Africa and the rest of the world with our subsea deployment expertise and coherent optical innovations. Together, we are expanding existing cable infrastructure and developing a long-term technology roadmap for future growth with minimal operational impact.”

– Thomas Soerenson, Vice President, Global Subsea, Ciena

The consortium will also use Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite for greater visibility and management of its services. Its Liquid Spectrum applications, including Channel Margin Gauge, provide real-time visibility into the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin of wavelengths, helping ACE identify opportunities to increase capacity.

The modernization also introduces greater automation and visibility, enabling operators to plan future network expansion and manage services more efficiently while maintaining the existing infrastructure.