[twic]

> Once complete, Equiano will start in western Europe and run along the West Coast of Africa, between Portugal and South Africa, with branching units along the way that can be used to extend connectivity to additional African countries.

I understand how undersea cables are laid, but how do you make use of a "branching unit" once it's at the bottom of the sea? Send down a submersible to plug in the branch? Lift the cable back up, plug in the branch, and lower it again? Do they lay the cable with patch leads attached to the branching units, so you just have to dredge those up and plug the rest of the branch in?

[stephenhuey]

I’ve seen photos of internet cables lifted onto ships to work on them. This article explains how one uses a massive robot to find them:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/subsea-internet-cable-ship-b...