Seacom, the venture capital company that is laying a cable down the east coast of Africa, says the first length of cable will slip below the waves just over two months from now.
Spokesman Fred Cornet adds that the 1.28Tbps cable, which will link Johannesburg directly with Marseilles in southern France and Mumbai in India, will be in service from June next year.
"The cable is in the final stages of manufacturing and the first shipload will be deployed around September," says Cornet. "Seacom has already been working with key broadcasters and can easily meet their requirements."
The Seacom cable consists of two fibre pairs with a 1.28Tbps capacity between SA and Mombasa, Kenya. On the way, the cable lands at Maputo in Mozambique, Toliary in Madagascar and Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. The cable from Mombasa to Marseilles has a 640Gbps capacity (and lands in Djibouti while passing through Egypt). The link from Dar-es-Salaam to Mumbai in India will also have a 640Gbps capacity and may branch to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Appointments
Meanwhile, Mauritius-based Seacom has appointed Craig Wilson as chief financial officer and Jean-Louis Parmentier as chief operating officer.
"With less than 12 months to commissioning date, Craig and Jean-Louis add critical mass to Seacom's operational readiness," says Seacom president Brian Herlihy.
Wilson, a South African, is a registered chartered accountant who previously worked at First Africa (an associate of Standard Chartered Bank) and Nedbank Capital.
Parmentier is a civil engineer specialising in telecommunications and was formerly CE of Afrilink and then M-Link (both affiliates of Telecel International).
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