SEACOM’s 17,000 km, submarine fiber optic cable system entered into commercial service, linking south and east Africa to global networks via India and Europe with 1.28 Terabit per second (Tbps) of capacity.
Backhauls linking Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala with the coastal landing stations have been established and SEACOM is also working with its national partners to commission the final links to Kigali and Addis Ababa shortly. The entire system will be operated and controlled through SEACOM’s Network Operations Centre which is based in Pune, India.
The SEACOM system was designed and installed by Tyco Telecommunications.
“Today is a historic day for Africa and marks the dawn of a new era for communications between the continent and the rest of the world. Our tireless efforts of the past 24 months have come to fruition, and we are proud to be the first to provide affordable, high quality broadband capacity and experience to east African economies. Turning the switch ‘on’ creates a huge anticipation but ultimately, SEACOM will be judged on the changes that take place on the continent over the coming years,” commented Brian Herlihy, SEACOM’s CEO.
Inauguration events are being held in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique, where SEACOM, in conjunction with Cisco Systems, will provide media and invitees direct access to true broadband connectivity, carry out live broadcasts and interactive real-time presentations across the system.
SEACOM is a Mauritian company owned 75% by African investors as a collaboration between East and Southern Africans and owns 100% of the SEA International Cable.
http://www.seacom.mu
- Tata Communications has become an anchor tenant customer on the privately owned SEACOM cable system, enabling the company to provide fully integrated network services from South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya to its networks in Europe, Asia and India. Another subsidiary company, Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS), has been awarded the network administration, operations and maintenance contract of the cable supporting 1.28 Tbps of capacity.
Tata Communications operates the landing point in Mumbai while Neotel will manage the landing point in South Africa. As result of this, the company can provide seamless connectivity between the SEACOM cable system and the Tata Communications global network, along with Neotel’s converged network in South Africa.