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By Our Reporter
Phase3 and Sonatel have activated a new terrestrial fibre route stretching 3,500km from Lagos, Nigeria, to Dakar, Senegal, delivering scalable, low-latency connectivity and unlocking critical cloud and content capacity across the region.
The launch is a major leap for digital infrastructure across West Africa while the collaboration marks the next phase of Phase3’s East-West fibre expansion, extending its Lagos-Accra corridor to reach Dakar, one of West Africa’s key digital hubs.
The result is a high-performance, land-based alternative to subsea systems, achieving latency as low as 32ms, and a much-needed layer of resilience for a region heavily impacted by the 2024 cable disruptions.
Executive Chairman of Phase 3, Stanley Jegede, declared: “This isn’t just a route; it’s a digital spine for West Africa.”
He explained: “We’re building for scale, for redundancy, and the future. Together, we’ve created a secure, high-capacity terrestrial path linking Dakar to Lagos while interconnecting our major platforms. It’s a step change in West Africa’s digital capability.”
Rrports quoted Phase 3 to have said that by bridging networks through Benin, Togo, Ghana, and now through to Senegal, the new terrestrial path provided critical redundancy for Hyperscalers, content networks, financial institutions, governments, and cloud providers.
Phsse 3 said that it also expanded the Djoliba network from Ghana into Nigeria, while laying groundwork for Ikasira, Sonatel’s next-generation regional platform.
“We’ve designed this network for hyperscalers, CDNs, and operators that can’t afford downtime,” Craig Lowe, Chief Growth Officer at Phase 3 was quoted to have said in a report by Business Wire.
Lowe stated: “This is about data sovereignty, application performance, and cloud transformation. Most importantly, it’s about building an internet that doesn’t fail when the cables do.”
Sonatel reportedly played a central role in extending the fibre corridor westward.
According to a report, “Sonatel’s vision, combined with leadership, enables innovation and drives shared prosperity that unfolds opportunities in the region.”
Sékou Dramé, CEO of Sonatel, stated: “We are proud to partner Phase3 to interconnect their West African backbone with our unique regional infrastructure.
“Our collaboration with Phase3 underscores our shared vision of fostering connectivity and innovation across Africa. This terrestrial fibre route is a significant achievement that will drive economic growth and digital inclusion in the region. We are excited to be part of this transformative project that will generate significant outcomes for our end users.”
The route is engineered for financial services, enterprise cloud workloads, public sector digitization, and media streaming, ensuring cross-border interoperability and local access to cloud zones like AWS Wavelength, hosted by Sonatel in Dakar.
It also helps reduce exposure to future subsea outages, supporting national digital strategies across the region.
El Hadji Maty Sene, Managing Director of Sonatel Wholesale and International, said: “Dakar is emerging as a strategic connectivity hub for West Africa. With this route, clients benefit from diversified infrastructure, lower latency, and reliable access to global content. This is the kind of investment that drives real economic outcomes.”
The Phase 3-Sonatel route is a milestone in regional fibre collaboration, one that strengthens West Africa’s digital core and connects it more securely to the world.
Reports indicated that commercial availability and service packages were expected to be announced soon.
