Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Fort Dauphin, known also as Taolagnaro, is a port city situated on the southeast coast of Madagascar and serves as the capital of the Anosy Region. Its coastal position on the Indian Ocean makes it a natural candidate for submarine cable infrastructure, and it hosts one international submarine cable connecting Madagascar to the wider Indian Ocean island and continental network. That cable, the Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System, known as METISS, links Fort Dauphin to Mauritius, Réunion, and South Africa, establishing a regional corridor that spans both Indian Ocean island territories and the African mainland.

As a single-cable landing point, Fort Dauphin contributes to Madagascar's overall submarine cable footprint, which spans four landing points across the island nation. The METISS cable extends the southeast coast of Madagascar into an established regional circuit, complementing connectivity elsewhere on the island and providing a direct southern African and Indian Ocean island route from this part of the country.

Cables Landing at Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS) is a submarine cable measuring 3,200 kilometres in length, with a ready-for-service date of 2021. In addition to its landing at Fort Dauphin, METISS connects to Mauritius, Réunion, and South Africa. The cable creates a regional Indian Ocean circuit, linking Madagascar's southeastern coast directly to two Indian Ocean island territories and to the African continent at South Africa, forming a compact but geographically significant multi-country system.

Regional Context

Within Madagascar, Fort Dauphin is one of four submarine cable landing points, alongside Mahajanga, Toliara, and Toamasina. Mahajanga and Toliara each host two submarine cables, while Fort Dauphin and Toamasina each host one. Fort Dauphin therefore ranks in the middle tier of Malagasy landing points by cable count, representing the southeastern access point in a national network that otherwise concentrates its connections along the western and eastern coasts.

Network Role

Fort Dauphin functions as a single-cable terminus on the METISS system, providing the southeast coast of Madagascar with a direct submarine link to South Africa, Mauritius, and Réunion. This positions the landing point as a node in a regional Indian Ocean corridor rather than a broad intercontinental hub, with connectivity oriented toward southern African and Indian Ocean island endpoints. The METISS cable's relatively compact 3,200-kilometre span reflects the regional character of this connection.

In the broader Malagasy submarine cable graph, Fort Dauphin diversifies the geographic spread of the country's landing infrastructure by anchoring connectivity on the southeastern coast, a stretch of coastline otherwise distant from Madagascar's other active landing points. Its presence in the national network ensures that the Indian Ocean regional circuit served by METISS reaches a distinct part of the island.