Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS)

Overview

The Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS) is a submarine cable that spans 3200 km and was ready for service in 2021, connecting Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, and South Africa.

Route and Landing Points

METISS has four landing points: Baie du Tombeau in Mauritius, Fort Dauphin in Madagascar, Le Port in Réunion, and Umbogintwini in South Africa. This cable provides a direct route between these islands and the southern African coast.

Network Performance

The METISS cable has demonstrated an average round-trip time (RTT) of 156.53 ms over the last 30 days, with the lowest observed RTT at 48.78 ms. The theoretical physics floor for this route is 31.32 ms, indicating that METISS operates close to optimal performance given its geographical constraints.

Specifically, the segment between Baie du Tombeau and Umbogintwini has an average RTT of 98.5 ms with a minimum of 48.8 ms, while the reverse direction from Umbogintwini to Baie du Tombeau averages 72.6 ms with a minimum of 54.3 ms.

Additional measurements show that the route from Baie du Tombeau to Los Angeles has an average RTT of 91.9 ms, and connections from Minsk and Almaty to Umbogintwini have consistent RTTs of approximately 216.6 ms and 279.4 ms respectively.

Ownership

The METISS cable is owned by a consortium including Canal+ Telecom, CEB Fibernet, Emtel, SFR, Telma (Telecom Malagasy), and Zeop (incl. Reunicable).

Regional Role

METISS connects Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, and South Africa, providing a direct route that reduces reliance on alternative paths through Europe or Asia for inter-island communications.