Orange is deploying a new cable off the coast of southeast Africa.
Announced this week, the ReuNION cable will link Réunion Island to South Africa.
Orange will be partnering with local telecom operators Telco OI and Réunicable, as well as the island’s digital-focused public institution, La Réunion Connectée.
Due to go live in 2028, the cable will feature 16 fiber pairs, each offering 20Tbps each, for a total capacity of 320Tbps. Full details of landing points were not shared.
“This future cable is key to the digital development of Réunion Island and the region; it will meet the strong growth in traffic and has a need for resilience,” said Jean-Louis Le Roux, EVP Orange International Networks. “In direct line with our Trust the future strategy, we are investing in this cable and will put our expertise at the service of its construction, notably by taking charge of its deployment and landing.”
Co-financed by the European Union via the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the system is designed to “anticipate the end of life of existing regional underwater systems,” some of which are nearing the end of their operational lifespan.
Orange is acting as the landing party, ASN will manufacture the cable, and Orange Marine will lay the system.
Réunicable SAS, founded in April 2011, is a telecoms provider in Réunion, operating an island-wide fiber network.
There are currently three subsea cables landing in Réunion in Saint Paul, Le Port, and Sainte Marie.
The first subsea cable to land in Réunion was the SAFE cable, a consortium system dating back to 2002 and linking South Africa to India and Malaysia. This was followed by the Orange-led LION system in 2009 linking the island to Madagascar and Mauritius, and then in 2021 with the METISS system linking the three African islands to South Africa.
In its own announcement, La Réunion Connectée noted that the SAFE cable is scheduled for decommissioning in 2027, leaving METISS as the island’s only international cable. Long-term, the hope is to deliver a new cable linking to Singapore.
The project will total €93.1 million ($108.04m): €30 million ($34.81m) from the ERDF, €20m ($23.21m) from the CEF, €36.6m ($42.47m) from the three telecoms firms, and €6.5 million ($7.54m) from the state.
Globally, Orange is involved in more than 40 submarine cables, totaling nearly 450,000 km (279,617 miles) of fiber. In May, the firm announced plans for a pan-African subsea cable system named Via Africa. The system is set to run from the UK down to Cape Horn.
Réunion is an island in the Indian Ocean, and an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately 679 kilometres (367 nautical miles) east of the island of Madagascar and 175 kilometres (94 nmi) southwest of the island of Mauritius.
Orange, one of the major telecoms providers in Réunion, is currently in the process of shutting off its copper network on the island. The shutoff started last year in January 2025 and is due to be completed in 2030.
