South Africa - opening access to the undersea cable

Second telecommunications operator accesses submarine cable

South Africa's second telecommunications operator Neotel has gained access to the SAT-3 landing station, which will link South Africa to Europe through the West coast. Neotel can now offer competitively priced international services that are not carried over Telkom's national network at any point, chief technology officer Dr Angus Hay reports.

The SNO received access to the station after the Department of Communications (DOC) passed the regulation to open access to the SAT-3 landing station to all lisenced operators.

"Access to the landing station means that Neotel can now carry traffic from Johannesburg to London on its own network", Hay explains.

Neotel has deployed its own equipment at the Melkbosstrand and Mtunzini SAT-3/South Africa Far East (SAFE) undersea cable system, connecting the system to the company's optical fibre routes into its national network. Neotel obtains international capacity for routes to the West on SAT-3 and on SAFE for routes to the East at competitive rates, and is able to pass the cost benefits on to customers who are dependent on these routes.

"For the first time, users of international leased line telecommunications services out of South Africa have a real choice of carrier, rather than just of reseller, enabling them to switch to their preferred provider, or simply to implement redundancy to reduce their business risk," Hay concludes.

A key priority for Neotel is that customers using NeoLink Global, the flexible international leased line service that includes global ethernet as an option, will receive an end-to-end service that makes exclusive use of Neotel's network for connectivity within South Africa.

Neotel will also be able to offer long-term capacity on the South East Africa fibre optic cable system (Seacom), which will be available from June 2009, linking South Africa to Europe along the east coast of Africa.

Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice and data services for businesses, wholesale network operators and providers and consumers using its Next Generation Network (NGN), which is IP-based and powered by Neotel's fibre optic technology.