A construction contract was finally signed in July 2017 and the cable is scheduled for service in 2018.3 Timor-Leste is committed to obtain access to submarine cable with the obstacle being the choice of option. In Africa the deployment of submarine cables has intensified since 2009. Previously, apart from satellite, the SAT3/ SAFE cable was the only option to connect Africa to the rest of the world and the only LDCs connected were Angola, Benin and Senegal. A number of cables have launched since then, dramatically increasing international Internet capacity and creating strong incentives for expansion of regional and national backbones.