Infraco plans 2010 alternatives

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 14 Jul 2008

State broadband company Infraco has contingency plans in place to ensure its 13 000km, 3.8Tb cable is ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Infraco CEO Dave Smith says contractual negotiations underlying the operating of the cable are taking longer than originally anticipated.

The cable will stretch from SA to Brazil, as well as to the UK, and will land in 10 African countries en route.

"The reason for the delay is associated with the normal difficulties entities experience when concluding the terms and conditions of complex, long-term commercial arrangements between numerous parties," Smith says.

Current planning says it will take 27 months for the cable to be commissioned from the date the parties sign and finance the deal.

The contracting hold-up could affect the start of the cable and delay the landing in the UK until after the June soccer extravaganza. The FIFA event and its high-definition broadcasting requirements - with the consequent need for expanded international broadband access for SA - is a frequently cited justification for the mega-project, said to cost Infraco and its partners around $510 million.

Smith says should the project drag, the UK cable will be brought ashore in Portugal as an interim measure - a step he says is "very feasible". A second contingency plan involves upgrading the existing west coast cable, the SAT-3, which is owned by telecoms operators including Telkom.

Not part of Smith`s contingency planning is Seacom, the venture capital company that in September will start laying a cable down the east coast of Africa.

The 1.28Tbps cable, which will link Johannesburg directly with Marseilles in southern France and Mumbai in India, will be in service from as early as June next year.

"Seacom has already been working with key broadcasters and can easily meet their requirements," spokesman Fred Cornet said last week.