Can Morocco position itself as an “African hub”? [FULL]

Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Soufiane CHAHID
Published on 2024-03-28 08:00:00

On March 14, an unprecedented internet outage hit West and Central Africa. Due to the simultaneous rupture of four undersea cables, more than a dozen countries were deprived of connection, affecting several hundred thousand internet users. In Côte d’Ivoire, the country most affected by this outage, only 3% of users had access to the internet on Thursday night. The two largest operators in the country, Orange and MTN, were heavily impacted by this incident. The third operator, Moov (a subsidiary of Maroc Telecom), was able to escape the outage thanks to the use of a separate cable, the “Maroc Telecom West Africa”. During this episode, MoovAfrica was even able to offer its customers additional capacity thanks to this infrastructure.

While the causes of this incident are not yet known, the most likely hypothesis would be seismic activity off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire. The four affected cables (The West Africa Cable System, MainOne, South Atlantic 3, and ACE) pass through the same narrow zone and share the same exit point: Abidjan.

The fact that an incident of this magnitude occurred in Africa is not random: it is the continent least connected by undersea cables in the world. Today, 99% of global digital data transit through these cables. The nerve center of this vast web is undoubtedly the United States, and increasingly China and Europe. With the growth of internet users in Africa, the lack of infrastructure will pose a major challenge in the years to come.

In the affected part of the continent, there is a disparity in access to the global network. Coastal countries like Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria are well served by cables, while Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are not so lucky. Why? “It is mainly for economic or security reasons. When companies laid the cables and established access points on the coast, countries like Sierra Leone or Guinea-Bissau were at war. Sometimes, the population is very low, and therefore the local operator is not willing to pay for this type of installations,” explains Charlotte Escorne, a connectivity specialist in West Africa.

Up until recently, the undersea cables along the West African coast (ACE, SAT-3/WASC, etc.) directly connected these countries to Southern Europe, without passing through Morocco. In order to supply its subsidiaries in the region (MoovAfrica), Maroc Telecom launched a new cable in July 2021, the “Maroc Telecom West Africa”. With a length of 8,600 km, it connects the Kingdom to five coastal countries, then to three landlocked countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) via a trans-African land cable passing through Côte d’Ivoire and Togo. In a second stage, the operator laid a cable from Casablanca to Lisbon, the entry point into the European optical loop. This experience demonstrates that Morocco’s geographical position makes it a potential continental node, a strategic location where several cables intersect.

On its Mediterranean facade, a sea abundantly traversed by undersea cables, the country has two entry points (Nador and Tetouan). As for the North Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometers from the transatlantic cable network between Europe and the United States, Morocco has three entry points in Casablanca, Asilah, and Dakhla.

Initiated by Orange, Morocco will also be connected to the Medusa system by 2026, the longest undersea cable in the Mediterranean connecting North African countries and Southern Europe. Although the Kingdom can take advantage of the West-Atlantic-Mediterranean nexus, it lacks the expertise, financial means, and security guarantees to establish itself in this field. Jobs related to undersea cables require specialized skills, which few companies master. In the field of manufacturing, laying, and maintaining cables, companies like Alcatel Submarine Networks or Orange Marine are market leaders. Additionally, investment in such infrastructure is very heavy, which is why most cables belong to either operator consortiums or the GAFAM.

Maroc Telecom’s cable costed at least 150 million euros. Furthermore, undersea cables require regular monitoring and maintenance, as they are subject to strong corrosion that accelerates their degradation. In fact, the novelty of the “Maroc Telecom West Africa” cable could explain its resistance to seismic activity, unlike the other four. They can also suffer from unintentional damages (illegal fishing, ocean currents, seismic activities), or even be victims of sabotage. Finally, undersea cables are particularly exposed to espionage activities. The Snowden case revealed that the US intelligence services (NSA) had the ability to extract data directly from the cables.

“As with any other critical infrastructure, undersea cables require the mobilization of observation means such as satellites, radars, drones, and patrols by the Royal Gendarmerie and Navy,” recommends Abdelouahed Jraifi, a telecom expert.

In the West African region, the development of communication networks and the arrival of 5G technology will require, in the coming years, an increase in the capacities of existing undersea cables, or even the deployment of new cables. This evolution is necessary to meet the growing demand for bandwidth and connectivity. Operators in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria already offer 5G subscriptions, which is not yet the case in Morocco. For these markets, this technology is the prerogative of Chinese equipment manufacturers (Huawei and ZTE), who are deploying an aggressive commercial strategy there.

“Huawei doesn’t just sell its equipment to operators and private companies, but also signs partnerships with states. In Senegal, for example, Huawei sold a whole package to the state under the name Smart Senegal. This includes an undersea fiber optic cable connecting Senegal to the Cape Verde islands, a network of terrestrial fiber optics, a data center, and security services (Safe city), such as facial recognition cameras,” explains Charlotte Escorne.

How can Morocco insert itself into this promising yet ultra-competitive landscape? One possibility could be to include a telecom component in the Kingdom’s new Atlantic strategy, either through technical collaborations with West African countries or by jointly ensuring the security of these undersea cables.

Read the original article(French) on L’Opinion