Bella Disu-led Globacom achieves milestone with $800-million submarine cable


Key Point


  • Globacom, led by Bella Disu, maintains top position in African telecom, supporting technological growth across the continent.
  • Glo 1 submarine cable celebrates eight years of flawless operation, highlighting resilience amid regional disruptions.
  • Enhancements to Glo 1 ensure maximum utilization and improved service delivery, driving strategic growth under Bella Disu’s leadership.

Globacom, a leading telecommunications group under the leadership of Nigerian executive Bella Disu, continues to deliver on its promise of supporting technological growth in Africa, maintaining a top position in the African telecom industry.

As executive vice chairman, Disu has propelled Globacom to become Nigeria’s top digital services provider, driving strategic growth and innovation. She actively steps into the giant shoes of her father, Mike Adenuga, a leading billionaire who boasts a $6.6 billion fortune.

The telecom giant’s Glo 1 submarine cable, stretching from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, recently celebrated eight years of flawless operation. This highlights the cable’s resilience, even as other network providers in Nigeria and neighboring countries faced disruptions.

Globacom’s Glo 1: The $800-million bet that won big!

In 2011, Globacom under Mike Adenuga, spearheaded a transformative move by becoming the first telecom company to build an $800 million high-capacity fiber-optic cable known as Glo 1. 

Since 2016, the resilience of Glo 1, which connects directly to London with the lowest latency, guaranteeing ultra-fast and reliable internet connectivity, has been highlighted, positioning the telecom giant as Nigeria’s largest provider of digital services.

The cable has maintained the lead where others have faltered, including during a service disruption in March that affected banks and telecommunications organizations dependent on the impacted cables — the West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3 — for internet services.

Glo 1 submarine cable proves resilient, maintains uptime

In a recent press release, Globacom emphasized Glo 1’s continuous reliability: “Since its launch, Glo 1 has provided continuous connectivity for both individual and corporate customers, ensuring reliable internet access without any downtime.”

The release further noted the cable’s resilience during widespread disruptions in March: “Even when most submarine cables in Nigeria and West Africa experienced cuts causing internet disruptions, Glo 1 remained unaffected and continued operating as usual.”

Globacom targets growth with enhanced subsea cable capacity

With Bella Disu at the helm, following in the footsteps of her father, Mike Adenuga, who is currently Africa’s sixth-richest billionaire with a $6.6-billion fortune, Globacom has made significant upgrades to the Glo 1 submarine fiber cable infrastructure. These enhancements aim to ensure maximum utilization and improved service delivery.

“The Glo 1 capacity boost effectively complements the ongoing technical expansions and upgrades of the Glo network infrastructure to ensure a unique calling and browsing experience on the Glo network,” the group stated.