Huawei Marine Networks has announced the completion of the installation of a nearly 6,000km subsea cable system linking Cameroon to Brazil.
The South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) subsea cable is the first to directly connect Africa and the Americas in the Southern Hemisphere.
The 32Tbps, four fiber pair cable system has been jointly funded by China Unicom via its subsidiary in Brazil and Cameroon's CAMTEL.
In a statement, Huawei Marine said the rapid development of global infrastructure and a massive surge in global internet traffic are transforming Africa and Latin America into key strategic emerging markets for the telecoms industry.
The new cable system will help meet growing demand for traffic in these regions, and will allow immediate links to other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries via other subsea cables.
The launch comes the same week that Australia's Vocus Communications lit up its new Australia Singapore Cable (ASC) system early due to damage on the SMW-3.