Africa's largest undersea internet cable to land this month
A new undersea telecommunications cable to boost Africa's internet access will land this month, mobile service provider MTN said on Thursday (7 April 2011), calling it the continent's largest data pipeline yet.
The 14,000-kilometre (8,700-mile) West Africa Cable System (WACS) fibre optic line is scheduled to reach South Africa's Western Cape province on April 18, linking the continent's internet providers directly to the servers of Europe and boosting the bandwidth of the world's least-connected region.
The cable starts in London and will connect 15 points along Africa's western coast, said MTN, which has a US$90-million (€63-million) stake in the US$650-million system and is the project's single largest investor.
The new link is the latest in a series of submarine cables that hold the promise of an internet explosion for Africa, where only 9.6% of people are web users, compared to 65% of Europeans.
The capacity of Africa's fibre optic cable connections has expanded almost 300-fold since 2009, when the continent relied mainly on excruciatingly slow satellite connections, and will expand another 23% with the launch of the 5,120-gigabit WACS.
"WACS will...go a long way towards catapulting Africa into the digital age," said Karel Pienaar, managing director for MTN South Africa.
"Lack of bandwidth on the continent has arrested the development of Africa and has constrained the continent from achieving its full potential."
MTN said it has been allocated an initial 11% of the cable's capacity when it goes live for commercial use in the second quarter.
Source: AFP
Source: I-Net Bridge
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
