Main One Cable Company (MainOne) / Equinix West Africa — Companies

Why it is on record

Founded by Funke Opeke (ex-MTN, ex-Verizon), Main One was the first privately-financed, female-led submarine cable system in sub-Saharan Africa. The Main One cable — 7,000 km from Seixal (Portugal) to Lagos via Accra — landed in Lagos on 14 June 2010 and entered commercial service on 1 July 2010, ending the SAT-3 monopoly and triggering the wholesale-bandwidth price collapse that made Nigerian fintech, streaming and SaaS economically possible. Acquired by Equinix in 2022 for a reported $320m — the largest Africa-focused infrastructure exit by a female-led company on record.

Record held

First privately-financed sub-Saharan African submarine cable; first female-led submarine cable system globally; largest Africa-focused infrastructure exit by a female-led company at the time of the 2022 Equinix acquisition. Confirmed Company of Record.

Founders

Funke Opeke (formerly Verizon; CEO until the Equinix acquisition).

Headquarters

Plot 27, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Lineage / corporate history

Main One Cable Company incorporated 2008; laid the Lagos–Lisbon submarine cable (the first privately financed sub-sea cable on the West African coast) in 2010; acquired by Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) on 1 April 2022 for $320m and rebranded as Equinix West Africa.

Current leadership

Pre-acquisition CEO: Funke Opeke.

Deep dive

Main One Cable Company — founded in 2010 by Funke Opeke — built and operates the MainOne submarine cable, the first privately-built undersea cable on the West African coast (Lagos – Accra – Lisbon, 7,000 km, ready-for-service June 2010). Its landing in Lagos broke the international-bandwidth monopoly previously held by SAT-3/WASC and was the proximate cause of the collapse of wholesale bandwidth pricing into Nigeria.

The company also operates the MDXi data centre business in Lagos and a regional fibre backbone. The 2022 acquisition of MainOne by Equinix Inc. for $320m was the largest African digital-infrastructure exit ever and made MainOne the foundational asset of Equinix's West African footprint. Funke Opeke remains chief executive of Equinix West Africa.