*** For immediate use 6 April 2016

Luanda, ANGOLA, Tokyo, JAPAN and Hong Kong – April 6, 2016 – Angola Cables S.A., an Angolan telecoms wholesale operator, and NEC Corporation, a leading IT system supplier, announced today that the contract to build the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), the first subsea fiber optic cable system ever to connect Africa and South America in the southern hemisphere has come into force. SACS is scheduled to be ready for service by the middle of 2018. The project cost is expected to reach $160 million and will be partially co-funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) with the support of Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) through the Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola (BDA).

SACS will connect Luanda, Angola and Fortaleza, Brazil, directly linking the African continent to Latin America for the first time, spanning more than 6,200 km across the South Atlantic, enabling high speed and large capacity international data transmissions. From Fortaleza, SACS can be connected to another cable system which stretches to Miami Florida, enabling Angola and Africa to connect directly with the USA.

SACS will feature the latest optical technologies to provide the most advanced subsea telecommunications system, coupled with a control plane based on innovative Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology to serve bandwidth-intensive applications. SACS will have an initial design capacity of 40Tpbs (100Gbps x 100 wavelengths x 4 fiber pairs).

"Our main objective is to improve the quality of communications between Africa and the Americas, creating a totally new route in the south hemisphere, providing term and peak capacity product offerings and support for the region’s expanding data requirements of today and for tomorrow," says António Nunes, CEO of Angola Cables. "SACS will be constructed using state-of-the-art technology, with 100G-coherent design for low latency, reliable delivery for even the most demanding bandwidth needs and direct data centre to data centre connectivity across the Atlantic."

"The South Atlantic Cable System is a unique cable system that will directly link Angola to Brazil and the rest of the world, and NEC Corporation prides itself to be the system supplier and would like to thank Angola Cables for giving NEC the chance to be part of this epoch-making cable," said Toru Kawauchi, General Manager at NEC's Submarine Network Division. "We would also like to extend our gratitude to JBIC, SMBC and NEXI, for providing the much needed financial support, without them SACS would not have been realized. As one of the world's top vendors of submarine cable systems, with more than 40 years of experience constructing over 200,000 kilometers of cable systems, NEC is committed to the successful completion of SACS and to building on our relationship with Angola Cables." 

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About Angola Cables
Angola Cables is an Angolan telecommunications company founded in 2009, which operates in the international wholesale market and whose core business is the commercialization of capacity in international circuits for voice and data through Submarine Cable Systems connecting Africa to Europe and Americas and also between South America and North America. It also operates the Angonix (the biggest Angolan IXP) in its data center in Luanda, the Angonap. Angola Cables’ goal is to transform Angola into one of the telecommunication hubs in Africa. For more information visit www.angolacables.co.ao   

About NEC Hong Kong Limited
Established in 1984, NEC Hong Kong Limited has been rapidly expanding its activities to meet growing customer demands in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICT), NEC is a recognized leader in providing one-stop solutions for biometric, public safety, energy saving, fleet management, cloud computing, telecommunication, network infrastructure and managed services. In addition, NEC provides advanced display & visual products, server & storage, telecommunication and networking solutions. With a comprehensive range of technical experts and resources, NEC offers professional tailored solutions to meet the dynamic needs of customers in various industries. With our extensive products and services, we continuously deliver business value to customers globally. NEC is the one-stop answer for innovative technological excellence. For enquiry, please call (+852) 2733 5533 or visit http://hk.nec.com/.

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