China Eximbank provides RMB 3.06 billion ‘mixed credit’ for 5900 km South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable Project

¥3.06M RMB

Funder	Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)
Recipient Organization	South Atlantic Inter Link Consortium
Country	Cameroon
Start Date	Jan 01, 2016
End Date	Oct 01, 2031
Duration	5,752 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`58439`

Grant Description

China Eximbank provides RMB 3.06 billion ‘mixed credit’ for 5900 km South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable Project On October 14, 2015, China Unicom and CAMTEL — a state-owned national telecommunications and Internet service provider in Cameroon — signed a partnership agreement for the 5900 km South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable Project.

Then, on August 11, 2016, China Unicom and CAMTEL signed a Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) for the South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable Project, which established a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called the South Atlantic Inter Link Consortium (南大西洋国际海底光缆组织).

China Eximbank subsequently signed a loan agreement worth approximately RMB 3.06 billion with South Atlantic Inter Link Consortium (南大西洋国际海底光缆组织) — a joint venture between China Unicom and CAMTEL — for the 5900 km South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable Project.

📋 Loan / Grant Terms

💰 Loan Amountare unknown

However, it is known that the borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance 85% of the total cost (RMB 3.6 billion) of the project (including a commercial contract with Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited that was signed on June 27, 2017).

The remainder (15%) of the project cost was to be financed by China Unicom, Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited and CAMTEL.

The purpose of the project was to lay a 5900 km submarine internet cable -- called the South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) -- from Kribi, Cameroon to Fortaleza, Brazil.

SAIL was expected to become the first intercontinental fast direct submarine cable spanning the South Atlantic Ocean and connecting the African and South American continents.

The SAIL cable system was designed to be a fast and direct path, utilizing the industry leading 100G transmission technology and to deliver a design capacity of 32 Tbps, through a 4 fiber pair configuration. Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited was the general EPC contractor responsible for implementation.

However, China Unicom also provided project management and business operations support. The submarine fiber optic cable for the project was manufactured in Norway, but other equipment was produced in China. Project Implementation commenced in October 2015. By September 29, 2017, the project had achieved a 60% completion rate.

The drawing of the first meter of the submarine cable took place in Kribi, Cameroon on May 22, 2018. September 4, 2018 marked the completion of all cable-laying work. The SAIL cable was put into commercial operation on November 15, 2018. This project was originally scheduled for completion by the end of the third quarter of 2018.

📋 Staff Comments

1. Multiple sources indicate that the debt financing for this project was provided via “Two Excellent” loans (or a so-called “mixed credit”): an RMB-denominated government concessional loan (GCL) and a USD-denominated preferential buyer’s credit (PBC). However, the respective face values of the GCL and PBC are unknown. Therefore, AidData relies on an aggregate estimate of RMB 3.06 billion (85% of RMB 3.6 billion) based on the following

📚 Sources & References

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fibh8sn1m1jp4b9/China%20Unicom%2C%20partners%20evaluate%20Cameroon-Brazil%20optical%20fibre%20project%20-%20People%27s%20Daily%20Online.pdf?dl=0. It is also possible that the GCL and PBC proceeds were on-lent to South Atlantic Inter Link Consortium (南大西洋国际海底光缆组织). However, this issue requires further investigation. 2. The project is also known as Cameroon-Brazil Cable System (or CBCS) and the Cameroon-Brazil Underwater Telecommunications Cable Project. The Chinese name of this project is 南大西洋国际海底光缆 or 南大西洋国际海底光缆（SAIL) or 喀麦隆巴西 SAIL 项目 or 跨南大西洋国际海底光缆该项目 or CBCS项目.3. Some sources suggest that the South Atlantic Inter Link Consortium (南大西洋国际海底光缆组织) is a joint venture between China Unicom
China Unicom do Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda (a subsidiary of China Unicom), and CAMTEL. This issue warrants further investigation. 4. CAMTEL is 100% owned by the Cameroonian government and has built and manages the national fiber transmission backbone network, fixed network business and a CDMA network nationwide. CAMTEL’s national backbone fibre network interconnects neighboring countries such as Nigeria
Central African Republic and Chad and has now grown into a regional fibre network. CAMTEL aims to develop Cameroon into an international traffic Hub in Africa through trans-border terrestrial cable and international submarine cables such as SAT-3
WACS
ACE
NCSCS
SAIL, etc. China Unicom is a leading telecom operator in China and APAC. It is the only Chinese telecom operator listed on the stock exchanges in New York
Hong Kong and Shanghai. China Unicom provides a full range of telecommunications services in China, including mobile broadband (WCDMA
LTE FDD
TD-LTE), fixed-line broadband
GSM, fixed-line local access
ICT, data communications and other related value-added services. By the end of July 2018
China Unicom’s total subscriber tally for the mobile, fixed-line broadband and local access businesses reached 441 million. Huawei Marine Networks Co.
Limited (Huawei Marine) is a joint venture established by Huawei Technologies Co.
Ltd. and Global Marine Systems Limited. Combining the substantial expertise of the two parent companies
Huawei Marine integrates state-of-the-art optical transmission technology and 160 years of marine engineering and installation excellence with a strong commitment to the development of innovative submarine cable network solutions throughout the globe. Huawei Marine delivers highly reliable, cost-effective turnkey submarine cable system solutions incorporating system design, integration and installation services with an on-going focus and commitment to customer support for network operators. 5. The loan that China Eximbank issued for this project is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in 2020 and re-released in 2021.6. In 2019
Equatorial Guinea's Gestor De lnfraestructuras De Telecomunicaciones De Guinea Ecuatorial (GITGE ) -- a state-owned company that operates and maintains the telecommunication infrastructure of Equatorial Guinea -- signed a confidential commercial contract (ID#0002261800000R) with Huawei Technologies Co.
Ltd. (for the GITGE National Broadband Project, also known as the GITGE NBN Project and El Proyecto de Banda Ancha Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial) to establish a direct fiber optic link between Bata and Fortaleza via SAIL (see https://gitge.com/en/sail-cable/). The commercial contract can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/95i1pegu29315oy5ublwh/Contrato-Principal.pdf?rlkey=qg0x62obyby889lmoh413uwjt&dl=0. Its annexes can be accessed via https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/k9dichhwz93ozsuiwao4i/Anexo-1.pdf?rlkey=jp1n8wrhbwzknjz3fvl4nw5w4&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3hdka4veu54xgnip72abp/Anexo-2.pdf?rlkey=24hpceancitooedf5wr6kmw34&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6pgl4771lfd7fu1ebxtbl/Anexo-3.pdf?rlkey=1no368sz2wujd31bl3n2stfei&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8rm2v4b9bz1f9typl9z1s/Anexo-4.pdf?rlkey=ukjcsqu24gfb0okslzkgzfp66&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ksrr0g5rtvikj3cekdyne/Anexo-5.pdf?rlkey=bsgmtnjkdrrek1m1lfv390fnp&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2041n5hxd5lia61un2n3y/Anexo-6.pdf?rlkey=j5r7opetmcnd169ojynq39y7r&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/76rm3988p08jjrnlmsmip/Anexo-7.pdf?rlkey=ft80ehay230rr0rv5jzu58dvu&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kfy8ehwgd7dvrzb9hhths/Anexo-8.pdf?rlkey=beim6d7fgxrhxc8yqit3ya3kd&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/izujzy1njirpaiehlz166/Anexo-9.pdf?rlkey=gl16mdrfkax7wq4h8tusih9e3&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y2d7w68s02yzu66zu5cmf/Anexo-9.1.pdf?rlkey=1r46qclzdol35yf6e8fjn3tzj&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wfn3bda1qrvq5xtsbw16m/Anexo-9.2.pdf?rlkey=eydiyay2yeijkgs0psjmabiyn&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wiompztemfxzkfzmiem3n/Anexo-9.3.pdf?rlkey=hbf0d2xbqu5viidpfscfvl0hz&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xoqreb64y111xh1sjvd4v/Anexo-9.4.pdf?rlkey=bed4bp0n0atlcfvs6uvlzczad&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jn7na8glx9wqktqayhfxo/Anexo-9.5.pdf?rlkey=wr0xlrxxffjv1fd3iwckhvwzw&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wad8rf3imrf689m8qdruk/Anexo-9.6.pdf?rlkey=yf4kz9jwpxzdjl7bl2cztgm9z&dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wagwacw3a09zp7mmv3e4v/Anexo-9.7.pdf?rlkey=uhvhwi3k120bx43lqy083gys5&dl=0 Sources: Equatorial Guinea wants to join Cameroon-Brazil submarine cable consortium of China Unicom and Camtel
Africa’s ICT sector and China
SAIL the Atlantic With CAMTEL
China Unicom Group to manage submarine cable between Brazil and Cameroon
中国联通主导的首条南大西洋国际海底光缆全线贯通
Huawei Marine Contracts to build South Atlantic Inter Link Cable System
South Atlantic Inter Link Connecting Cameroon to Brazil Fully Connected
SAIL(cable system)
China Unicom, partners evaluate Cameroon-Brazil optical fibre project
China Breakthroughs: SAIL ahead on South Atlantic cable network
SAIL
My Dear Friends
你知道SAIL海缆是如何连接非洲和南美的吗？
南大西洋国际海底光缆（SAIL）正式商用投产
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SAIL the Atlantic with CAMTEL
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Private Participation in Infrastructure Database
Chinese and Japanese governments and telecommunications companies compete for the first South Atlantic submarine cable
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贺中国联通、喀麦隆电信和华为海洋合建南大西洋国际海缆
SAIL subsea cable system connects S America and Africa for the first time
South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL), title
C h i n a U n i c o m , p a r t n e r s e v a l u a t e C a m e r o o n - B r a z i l o p t i c a l f i b r e p r o j e c t
Cameroon Is A Communication Hub in Africa: Brazilian Ambassador
Digital for Development – an analysis from a geopolitical perspective
The Digital Silk Road Initiative: Wiring Global IT and Telecommunications to Advance Beijing’s Global Ambitions
中国联通主导的首条南大西洋国际海底光缆全线贯通
中国联通主导的首条南大西洋国际海底光缆全线贯通
Technology companies signed the South Atlantic International Submarine Cable Construction Agreement
Huawei Marine Contracts to build South Atlantic Inter Link Cable System
Playing the New Movement of 'One Belt
One Road' Communication Interview with Lu Yimin
General Manager of China Unicom
La Guinée Equatoriale veut rejoindre le consortium du câble sous-marin Cameroun-Brésil formé de China Unicom et Camtel
华为海洋承建喀麦隆-巴西跨大西洋海缆系统连接非洲和拉美
Camtel s’associe à China Unicom pour lancer son propre câble sous-marin à fibre optique
Cameroon-Brazil Submarine Cable Link Underway
South Atlantic Inter Link Connecting Cameroon to Brazil Fully Connected
South Atlantic Inter Link: the landing point installed in Kribi
Cameroon: 200 billion FCFA for an undersea cable that will improve the telecom offer
Sail: The real Digital bridge Cameroon-Brazil
Gitge signs an CFA18 billion contract with CAMTEL to connect to Cameroon's optical fiber
Camtel and China Unicom Signed C&MA for South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) Cable System
SAIL
Report of Foreign Private Issuer Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
China Unicom
Telefonica et Camtel déploieront un câble à fibre optique entre le Brésil et le Cameroun
DEMANDE D'UN ACCORD TRIENNAL AU TITRE DE LA FACILITÉ ÉLARGIE DE CRÉDIT — COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE
RAPPORT DES SERVICES DU FMI
ANALYSE DE VIABILITE DE LA DETTE ET DECLARATION DE L’ADMINISTRATEUR POUR LE TCHAD
INITIATIVE POUR LA TRANSPARENCE DES INDUSTRIES EXTRACTIVES, imf country reports
SAIL cable
Contrato para Proyecto de Banda Ancha Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial
Annex 1: Price Summary of Huawei Equipment and Services for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 2: Responsibility Matrix for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 3: Project Acceptance Test Procedure for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 4: Change Management for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 5: Technical Proposal for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 6: OSP Technical Proposal for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 7: Training Proposal for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 8: Project Implementation Plan for Equatorial Guinea GITGE NBN Project
Annex 9: Scope of Work for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.1: Responsibility Matrix for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.2: System Description for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.3: Plan of Work for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.4: Project Management Proposal for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.5: Cable Route Top Desk Study & Marine Route Survey Proposal for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.6: Marine Installation Proposal for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System
Annex 9.7: Training Proposal for SAIL BU1-Bata Submarine Cable System Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.