Glo-1

Overview

Glo-1 is a submarine cable system spanning approximately 9,800 kilometres, connecting West Africa to the United Kingdom. Owned entirely by Globacom Limited, a Nigerian telecommunications operator, it links Ghana and Nigeria on the West African coast with a landing point in southwest England. The cable serves the intercontinental corridor between West Africa and Europe.

Route and Landings

In Ghana, the cable lands at Accra, the country's capital, on the Gulf of Guinea coast. In Nigeria, the system comes ashore at Lagos, the country's largest city and its commercial centre. In the United Kingdom, the cable terminates at Bude, a coastal town in Cornwall that serves as a landing point for several transatlantic and international cables.

Ownership and Operators

Glo-1 is wholly owned by Globacom Limited, a privately held Nigerian telecommunications company with operations across West Africa. Because the system has a single owner, it is not a consortium cable; Globacom controls the full capacity and management of the infrastructure.

Status and Timeline

Glo-1 entered service in 2010, making it one of the earlier modern submarine cables to directly connect Nigeria and Ghana to the United Kingdom. The system is currently in service.

Regional Context

Glo-1 operates in a corridor that has seen steady growth in submarine cable investment. Measured performance over the past 60 days, drawn from 82 ping tests, shows an average round-trip latency of 129.7 milliseconds, with a best recorded figure of 102.2 milliseconds.

Among cables sharing portions of this corridor, 2Africa and Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) also serve both Ghana and Nigeria, while Equiano lands in Nigeria, and Europe India Gateway (EIG), Atlantic Crossing-1, and Apollo share the Bude or broader UK landing region. Glo-1 predates most of these systems, having entered service before ACE (2012), Equiano (2023), and 2Africa (2024), positioning it as an earlier direct link between West Africa and the UK along this route.

Strategic Role

By connecting Accra, Lagos, and Bude, Glo-1 provides a direct submarine path between two of West Africa's major economic centres and a well-established European cable landing hub. Its three landing points concentrate connectivity across Ghana, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom, supporting data exchange between these countries across a cable length of 9,800 kilometres.