New undersea cable announced
2010-06-09 15:49
Johannesburg - French company Alcatel-Lucent has reached an agreement with 20 telecommunications operators worldwide to install a 17 000km submarine system that will connect South Africa to France, with 23 countries linked up along the way.
According to Alcatel-Lucent the new cable will have a capacity of 5.12Tbps, more than four times that of Seacom.
The $500m Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable will link Cape Town in South Africa to Penmarch in France via a submarine cable network.
"Upon expected commercial service in the first half of 2012, this network will bring broadband optical data connectivity for the first time to the people of Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Equatorial Guinea," read a statement released on Tuesday.
"It will also provide a higher level of service and traffic protection in the region by featuring Alcatel-Lucent's technology advancements in next-generation coherent technology, including innovations from Bell Labs, to deal with transmission impairments in a cost-effective and automated manner."
ACE's costal route will link South Africa to France via Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Tenerife (Spain) and Portugal. It will have 21 landing points along the route.
Said Yves Ruggeri, chairperson of the consortium's management committee: "ACE is further proof of the need for faster and more cost-effective capacity and alternative route to provide everyone with broadband access, so crucial to social and economic development."
He said the new cable "will set a new milestone in the development of the African communication infrastructure".
- Fin24.com