South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL)

Overview

The South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) is a transoceanic submarine cable system spanning approximately 5,800 kilometres across the South Atlantic Ocean. It connects Brazil and Cameroon, forming a direct link between South America and the west coast of Africa. The cable is jointly owned by Camtel, the state-owned telecommunications operator of Cameroon, and China Unicom, one of China's major telecommunications carriers.

Route and Landings

In South America, SAIL lands at Fortaleza, a coastal city in northeastern Brazil that serves as a gateway for several international submarine cable systems.

On the African side, the cable comes ashore at Kribi, located on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon. Kribi is the sole African landing point for this system.

Ownership and Operators

SAIL is owned by two entities: Camtel (Cameroon Telecommunications) and China Unicom. Camtel is the national telecommunications operator of Cameroon. China Unicom is one of China's leading state-owned telecommunications carriers with an established presence in international submarine cable investments.

Status and Timeline

SAIL entered service in 2020. The cable is currently operational, providing live connectivity between Brazil and Cameroon across the South Atlantic.

Regional Context

The South Atlantic corridor served by SAIL is shared with several other cable systems that also land in Brazil. Systems such as GlobeNet (23,500 km, RFS 2000), South America-1 (25,000 km, RFS 2001), the South American Crossing (20,000 km, RFS 2000), AMX-1 (17,800 km, RFS 2014), and BRUSA (11,000 km, RFS 2018) all have Brazilian landing points, though these cables primarily serve different corridors. SAIL is distinct in that its sole non-Brazilian terminus is in Cameroon, making it one of the few systems to provide a direct South America–West Africa connection at 5,800 km.

Based on 107 ping tests conducted over the past 60 days, SAIL records an average round-trip latency of 185.2 ms, with a best recorded measurement of 146.0 ms.

Strategic Role

By linking Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil directly to Kribi on Cameroon's Atlantic coast, SAIL provides a dedicated South Atlantic route between South America and sub-Saharan Africa. The Fortaleza landing point benefits from its proximity to existing cable infrastructure in Brazil, while the Kribi landing extends international fibre connectivity to the Gulf of Guinea coast. The cable supports direct data exchange between these two regions without relying on routes through Europe or North America.