East Africa - undersea cable

East Africa: Construction of Undersea Fibre Optic Cable System Kicks-Off

The construction of the 13,700 km Sea Cable System connecting the South and East Africa countries of South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania with India and Egypt has commenced.

SEACOM Limited and its supplier - Tyco telecommunications, a business segment of Tyco Electronics Limited and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services are carrying the project.

Speaking to the East African Business Week last week, Brian Herlihy, the president for SEACOM Ltd., said that the Sea Cable system that will have 1.28 Tbps capacity is expected to be completed by June 2009.

SEACOM attained full and unconditional financial close on November 9, 2007. SEACOM and Tyco Telecommunications brought the construction contract for the full delivery of the system in force on November 13, 2007.

SEACOM's offerings will complement communication carriers of South and East Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks eastward through India and westward through Europe. The system will provide African retail infrastructure bottleneck and supporting East and South African economic growth. The Sea Cable System will have many times the capacity of the sole existing cable in the region, enabling greater availability and lower cost for high demand services such as high definition TV, peer-to-peer networks, IPTV, and Internet.

"The overwhelming demand for increased bandwidth in East and South Africa grows greater each day. The Sea Cable System is making massive new bandwidth available, enabling prices to come down dramatically and opening up the possibility of developing new fields of economic activity in all the countries served," Herlihy explained.

He said that: "the Sea Cable System will be ready to serve Southern and East African markets from 2009, well in time to meet the bandwidth needs of the confederations cup and the 2010 soccer world cup in South Africa, and the growing requirements of the economies in the countries it serves."

In his part, Michael Rieger, the vice president, sales, marketing & project management of Tyco telecommunications, said: "the launch of the sea Cable System marks a significant moment for our industry as we begin the first major submarine cable infrastructure system to link East and South Africa with India, the Middle East and Europe."

"We are confident that our contributions to the design and implementation of this system will bring significant advancements to the service and technology capabilities available to citizens and businesses throughout the region," Rieger stated.

Tyco Telecommunications, a business segment of Tyco Electronics, is an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services.

The firm is a Turnkey supplier of undersea telecommunications systems and operates a fleet of modern vessels and ROVs serving the undersea cable and offshore markets around the world.

Based in Morristown, New Jersey -the firm is dedicated to providing total solutions and support for the construction and maintenance of undersea systems.

The firm intends to develop, construct, own and operate a privately funded submarine fibre optic cable to be commissioned in the first half of 2009.

The Sea Cable System expects to compliment the business of national carriers, broadcasters and education and research networks by providing a wholesale solution for international bandwidth to be sold by national carriers through their already established retail channels.