S/Africa Firm to Link Nigeria with Undersea Cable
- By Lawson Ovih
- Published September 13th, 2010
- ITWorld
- Unrated
THE country would once again have access to more broadband infrastructure for effective connectivity as eFive Telecoms, the South African telecom company, seals deal with Alcatel-Lucent to build a new submarine cable network linking the west coast of Africa to South America.
The network, which will consist of two trunks, will connect South Africa to Angola and Nigeria while the second trunk would link Angola to Brazil. Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed that it will be in charge of the project end-to-end, with responsibility for the system’s design, manufacture and installation.
The cable will be maintained by Alcatel-Lucent through its Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA), which currently covers over 100,000 km of submarine cable infrastructure from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean and as far north as Greenland.
Lawrence Mulaudzi, managing director of eFive Telecoms, said the company believes that high-growth areas such as the African continent require the development of new projects.
Mr. Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network division, noted that the planned submarine network will also provide cable route diversity to South America, making the most economical and operational sense in the current landscape.
He added that growth in African internet and mobile telephony is driving service providers’ demand for more connectivity options to ensure higher reliability, as well as increased widespread access to bandwidth. This project will further position Africa as a major hub for broadband connectivity.
Similarly, the Glo1 undersea submarine cable recently launched by Globacom, the second national operator (SNO) in Nigeria, was also built by the French undersea cable building expert, thus providing African countries the much needed broadband to drive telecom service and Internet penetration in the continent.
The network, which will consist of two trunks, will connect South Africa to Angola and Nigeria while the second trunk would link Angola to Brazil. Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed that it will be in charge of the project end-to-end, with responsibility for the system’s design, manufacture and installation.
The cable will be maintained by Alcatel-Lucent through its Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA), which currently covers over 100,000 km of submarine cable infrastructure from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean and as far north as Greenland.
Lawrence Mulaudzi, managing director of eFive Telecoms, said the company believes that high-growth areas such as the African continent require the development of new projects.
Mr. Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network division, noted that the planned submarine network will also provide cable route diversity to South America, making the most economical and operational sense in the current landscape.
He added that growth in African internet and mobile telephony is driving service providers’ demand for more connectivity options to ensure higher reliability, as well as increased widespread access to bandwidth. This project will further position Africa as a major hub for broadband connectivity.
Similarly, the Glo1 undersea submarine cable recently launched by Globacom, the second national operator (SNO) in Nigeria, was also built by the French undersea cable building expert, thus providing African countries the much needed broadband to drive telecom service and Internet penetration in the continent.
