The first new African undersea cable to be commissioned in over a year will connect the Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and ultimately Africa's international fibre backbone.
The Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) will span over 1 900km, offering international connectivity to the islands.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says this is a positive move for the Seychelles, as it previously had to use the SAT-3 cable to connect to the continent.
Now the SEAS cable will provide a dedicated connection for islands into the cable explosion under way across Africa.
Preferred tech
According to Alcatel Lucent, with the deployment of ongoing and new projects, the number of submarine cable networks will increase by a factor of five by the end of 2012 compared to 2000, with some of them already in service, such as Eassy. This brings the total capacity available to 20.2Tbs, from 0.2Tbs in 2000, as well as increases the number of landing points from 16 to 76 over the same reference period.
Goldstuck explains that undersea cable technology is the preferred technology for connecting the African continent. He explains the alternative is satellite technology, which is both expensive and has a high latency.
With undersea cables, and fibre in the ground, explains Goldstuck, the asset becomes a sunk cost in that the costs involved reside in the maintenance of the infrastructure, with the data being a bonus.
However, he points out that, with satellite technology, data is a continuous cost.
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