The East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy) has decided to more than quadruple its capacity to 1.4Tbps, a move that will give it slightly more capacity than its rival Seacom.
This means East Africa can now look forward to having two submarine cable systems with capacities of more than 1Tbps. It is currently the only major geographic and economic region without an undersea cable to connect it to the world telecommunications grid. In comparison, the Telkom-operated West Coast cable SAT-3 has a total capacity of about 320Gbps.
Trevor Martins, head of MTN internal submarine cable investments and chairman of the Eassy management committee, says the increase in capacity is needed due to an increase in broadband demand in the region.
When originally conceived, Eassy was expected to cost about $250 million. The latest changes, along with some architectural adjustments, means the cost will increase.
“The rise in costs has been met by the investors and there is a sufficient buffer in place to meet any unforeseen events,” he says.
Originally, Eassy was supposed to have an initial capacity of 320Gbps. This was increased to 640Gbps, and now that capacity has more than doubled.
Rival project Seacom has a planned capacity of 1.28Tbps.
A statement issued by cable manufacturer and construction company Alcatel-Lucent yesterday says this means Eassy will have the highest capacity in the region and will satisfy broadband needs for years to come.
Space for two
Martins says history has shown that once a market is freed up, demand for broadband rises exponentially, so he thinks there will still be space for the two projects.
He says the Eassy cable will be constructed in time to be in place for the 2010 World Soccer Cup that is due to take place in July that year. This will be achieved by using two ships to lay the cable; one will begin at Port Sudan and the other at Mtunzini, in SA. The ships are expected to start work in December and the first quarter of 2009, respectively.
The Eassy submarine network will span nearly 10 000km, linking eight countries from Sudan to SA, via Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Landings will be located in Port Sudan (Sudan), Djibouti (Djibouti), Mogadishu (Somalia), Mombasa (Kenya), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mtunzini (SA).
The system will also interconnect with terrestrial networks to cater for the international connectivity needs of landlocked countries. The mapping for its connections with other undersea systems to the rest of the world has been completed, says Martins.
Low-cost mandate
Martins points out that pricing is not an issue for Eassy, as it is operating under a mandate of providing the lowest cost connectivity to the region.
“Our investors do not see this as a profit-making exercise; rather it is infrastructure development and so we have been mandated to provide the lowest cost to the region,” he says.
Among the Eassy investors are South African companies MTN, Telkom and Vodacom. Telecommunications companies from Kenya, Mozambique, Botswana and others are also involved. The International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, has taken a stake through the West Indian Ocean Cable Company, a special purpose vehicle.
“We have had fruitful discussions with SA's Department of Communications (DOC) and have obtained their blessing for what we want to do,” Martins notes.
He adds that Eassy has not ruled out collaborating with any other proposed cable system, such as the DOC-championed Uhurunet, which aims to circle the continent with fibre-optic cables.
Related stories:
Alcatel-Lucent starts Eassy survey
Undersea cable race is on
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