Expresso Ghana has landed the US$700 million 17,000km-long ACE fibre optic cable on the shores of Ghana. The cable is due to be launched in Ghana on May 10, 2013, so that customers of Expresso would begin to enjoy high-speed broadband services on the Expresso network. ACE is the acronym for Africa Coast to Europe submarine cable, and represents a consortium of 19 members, including Expresso-Dolphin, the mother company of Expresso Ghana. The cable stretches from France to South Africa, connecting 23 countries mainly on the coast of Africa, but also landlocked countries like Mali and Niger through terrestrial links. It is the first cable system to connect seven African countries in a stretch. Correspondence from Expresso Ghana said Expresso-Dolphin will be the driving force behind the ACE submarine cable in West Africa, and the sole maintenance authority in Ghana and Nigeria. It said, apart from Ghana, Expresso-Dolphin is also a landing party in Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea Conakry and responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance in those countries as well. “ACE will connect Ghana with 22 countries from South Africa to Portugal to France and other International Gateways,” it said. Ghana already has the WACS cable from MTN, SAT-3 from Vodafone, Glo One from Globacom and the MainOne cable on its shores, which gives the country a huge fibre optic redundancy capacity. The ACE cable would therefore enhance the huge redundant capacity for Ghana and enhance Ghana’s connectivity and route diversity,” it said. Expresso-Dolphin has assured prospective customers it will offer competitive prices for capacity wholesale for operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and High End Enterprises. “We will promote internet usage and increase internet penetration in Ghana through smart partnerships with local ISPs and we will boost economic growth by contributing to Ghana’s GDP,” the company said. Meanwhile the ACE Consortium also said it will partners with operators and ISP’s in Ghana and across Africa in delivering bandwidth, provide backend support and allow its partners to act as front end to corporate entities and SMEs, and play at the Business to Business level and allow its partners interface directly with the customers at the customer to customer level. Meanwhile, first quarter 2013 subscriber base figures from National Communication Authority (NCA) indicate Express Ghana now has some 163,661 subscribers representing 0.7% market share.