Monrovia, Liberia

Monrovia, Liberia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Monrovia is the capital and largest city of Liberia, situated on the Atlantic coast at Cape Mesurado. As the country's primary urban and administrative centre, it is also Liberia's sole submarine cable landing point, connecting the nation to the international subsea cable network. One submarine cable lands at Monrovia, the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) system, which links Liberia to a broad arc of West African nations and extends northward to Europe.

The ACE cable establishes a long-haul intercontinental corridor between Liberia and both its regional neighbours along the West African coastline and the European continent. This makes Monrovia an endpoint within one of the most geographically extensive cable systems serving the region, spanning approximately 17,000 kilometres in total length.

Cables Landing at Monrovia

The Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable is the single submarine cable landing at Monrovia. Measuring 17,000 kilometres in length and reaching ready-for-service status in 2012, ACE connects Liberia to a wide range of countries along the West African coast and beyond. Other countries served by the ACE system include Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, and Gambia. The cable's northward route to France provides Liberia with a direct subsea link to European telecommunications networks, while its lateral connections to fellow West African nations enable regional data exchange along the Atlantic seaboard.

Regional Context

Monrovia is Liberia's only submarine cable landing point, meaning the entirety of the country's subsea cable connectivity is concentrated at this single location. With one cable and one landing point, Liberia's submarine cable footprint is among the more limited on the West African coast, where several neighbouring states host multiple landing points and cable systems.

Network Role

Monrovia functions as a single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, with all of Liberia's international subsea connectivity routed through the ACE system. The landing point enables intercontinental reach to Europe via France, as well as regional connectivity to West African nations including Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Benin, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The ACE cable, having entered service in 2012, represents Liberia's first and to date only connection to the global submarine cable network through this landing point.

Within the West African submarine cable graph, Monrovia occupies a position as a terminal node on the ACE system, reliant on that single cable for all international subsea capacity. The concentration of Liberia's entire submarine cable infrastructure at one landing point underscores Monrovia's singular role as the country's gateway to the broader international cable ecosystem.