SA's second national operator, Neotel, has been contracted to run the primary network operating centre (NOC) for the West Africa Cable System (WACS).
The deal is expected to create about 10 skilled jobs in SA and facilitate skills development and knowledge transfer into the country. Neotel did not disclose the value of the contract.
The NOC requires highly-specialised skills to oversee the operation, maintenance, configuration, testing and monitoring of the WACS cable, Neotel says in a statement.
“We have the required skills sets and are building additional skills to be able to service this contract,” says CEO Sunil Joshi. “As this is a highly-skilled area of operation, we will train and develop specialised local personnel apt for both local and international ICT landscapes.”
Neotel is 61.5%-owned by Indian company Tata Communications, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
WACS, which landed in Cape Town in May and links Southern Africa to Europe, is expected to increase SA's current broadband capacity by over 500Gbps.
The cable runs along Africa's west coast and terminates in the UK. Neotel is a consortium member in WACS, in addition to its stakes in four other cables.
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