• Mauritania launched the coastal installation of its second submarine cable, with full deployment scheduled for August 2026 and service expected in January 2027.

• The cable will deliver an initial capacity of 200 Gbps, scalable to 12 Tbps, linking the country to Europe and South America.

• Internet costs remain high, with fixed broadband at 17.6% of GNI per capita, highlighting affordability challenges.

Mauritania has advanced the deployment of its second international fiber-optic submarine cable. On May 4, authorities installed the coastal section of the infrastructure. They scheduled the main offshore cable laying for August 2026, while they expect commissioning in January 2027.

Ahmed Salem Ould Bede, Minister of Digital Transformation and Administrative Modernization, led the landing ceremony. Authorities installed the 28.4-kilometer coastal հատված in Nouadhibou, where the landing station is located.

The coastal section connects the landing station to the open sea. Operators typically bury and reinforce this segment because human activities such as fishing and shipping expose it to higher risks of damage. In contrast, operators deploy the main cable in deep waters over long distances, where exposure is lower but installation and maintenance are more complex.

Infrastructure to strengthen network resilience

Once completed, the new cable will strengthen national digital infrastructure by complementing the existing ACE submarine cable, which has connected Mauritania since 2011. The country still depends heavily on this single system for international connectivity, which increases vulnerability in case of disruption.

Outages on the existing cable have already disrupted internet and mobile services nationwide, affecting public administration, businesses, and users. Even scheduled maintenance operations have reduced bandwidth or caused temporary service interruptions due to the lack of a fully operational alternative.

The new cable will offer an initial capacity of 200 Gbps, expandable to 12 Tbps. It will connect Mauritania to Europe via Portugal and to South America via Brazil.

A driver of digital transformation

Authorities expect the infrastructure to strengthen international connectivity and address growing data demand amid rapid digital transformation.

By increasing available capacity, the cable will improve service reliability and quality while reducing congestion risks. In addition, it will provide redundancy alongside the first submarine cable, which will strengthen network resilience during outages or traffic surges. This dual connectivity will better absorb traffic growth and ensure more stable continuity of essential services, including e-government, financial services, and business usage.

Beyond technical performance, submarine cables can lower consumer costs. A June 2025 report by the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development found that doubling international capacity can reduce prices by up to 32% for fixed broadband and 50% for mobile broadband. For example, the commissioning of the Didon cable in Tunisia in 2014 reduced mobile broadband tariffs by five percentage points.

In Mauritania, spending on 5 GB of mobile data represents 2.94% of gross national income per capita in 2025, according to the International Telecommunication Union. Fixed internet costs account for 17.6% of GNI per capita, far above the 2% affordability threshold.

In this context, lower prices could drive broader adoption of telecom services, particularly internet access, and accelerate digital service usage. According to the International Telecommunication Union, only 45.8% of Mauritanians used the internet in 2024.

This article was initially published in French by Isaac K. Kassouwi

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum