Glo 1 reaches Ghana's shores

fibre-optic cable, Glo 1 has connected Ghana to West Africa and Europe, reports IT News Africa.

The 9 800km-long submarine cable network, the first project of its kind to be executed entirely by a single organisation, landed on the beaches of Osu, in Accra.

The Glo 1 facility is backed by Globacom and Alcatel-Lucent, and is set to transform the country's communications landscape.

Telegeography reveals Globacom chairman Dr Mike Adenuga Jr says: “These are exciting times, indeed, for Ghana and the rest of Africa, as Glo 1 comes in to offer immense opportunities for businesses across our continent and enable them to compete on an equal footing with their counterparts elsewhere in the world.”

According to Adenuga, the Glo 1 cable is upgradeable to 2.5Tbps and will link to three European countries, namely the UK, Spain and Portugal, as well as 14 African countries, with a dedicated link to the US.

Ghana's communications minister, Haruna Iddrisu, welcomed the Glo 1 roll-out with a “mixed feeling” because of the expectation of Glo's voice mobile telephony, states Joy Online.

Iddrisu said: “We cannot wait any longer to see Globacom launch fully as part of Ghana's six licensed communication entities for our country in order to expand access to voice telephony”.