The West African Cable System (WACS) undersea cable must not contribute to the connectivity cost burden. Rather, it should be modelled on the basis of affordable and open access to non-shareholders, says deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie.
Yesterday, more than 11 telecommunications companies signed the construction and maintenance agreement to build the 3.84Tbps cable, which will stretch more than 14 000km up the continent`s West Coast to Europe and eventually terminate in London. Scheduled for completion in 2011, it will be the longest continuous cable system of its type in the world.
Padayachie says the Department of Communications welcomes the private sector`s initiative to fund such a project. He notes it will be a critical contributor to the needs of the ICT sector and the development of the necessary infrastructure.
He adds that the Department of Communications, which has had no role in this project, will evaluate its relationship with WACS.
Connectivity bonanza
Research firm World Wide Worx says when WACS becomes operational, it will contribute to growing international connectivity bandwidth available to Africa by a hundred-fold, as it and other systems come on line over the next few years.
Companies that have signed include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Tata Communications (Neotel), Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Togo Telecom, Telkom SA and Vodacom Group.
The cable will be landed in a number of countries, with the respective telecommunications operators making the landing sites available. These are: SA - Telkom SA, Namibia - Telecom Namibia, Angola - Angola Telecom, Democratic Republic of the Congo - Vodacom Group, The Republic of Congo - Sotelco, Canary Islands - Vodafone Spain/Vodacom Group, Cote d`Ivoire - MTN, Cameroon - MTN, Nigeria - MTN, Togo - Togo Telecom, Ghana - MTN, Cape Verde - Portugal Telecom, Portugal -Tata Communications, UK - Tata Communications, and London point of presence - Cable & Wireless.
WACS configuration is that of a minimum three-fibre pair cable system linking SA to Portugal, with landings in several intermediate countries and an extension to the UK and London. The system design - 128 wavelengths of 10Gbps each, with initial equipage of 40 wavelengths of 10Gbps each, express fibre pair - interconnect SA, Portugal, and UK through to London. Express fibre pair will interconnect SA, Nigeria and UK through to London. Omnibus fibre/s will interconnect SA, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote D`Ivoire, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Portugal and UK through to London.
Ample capacity
The Internet Access in SA 2008 study, conducted by World Wide Worx and supported by Cisco Systems, shows international bandwidth available to sub-Saharan Africa was a mere 80Gbps at the end of 2008. This was split between the Telkom-controlled SAT3/SAFE cable and the West African Atlantis-2 cable.
But, according to the report, the capacity will rise to around 10Tbps by the end of 2011, or 120 times the 2008 capacity. This growth will be the cumulative result of the existing SAT-3 cable being upgraded, three major new cables becoming operational this year, another two in 2010, and the WACS cable in 2011.
Pieter Uys, CEO of Vodacom Group and chairman of the WACS steering committee, notes: "The West Africa Cable System represents a significant telecommunications infrastructure investment through a joint effort of a number of African and global operators, and will have ample capacity to serve the region`s international connectivity needs for many years to come."
Brian Herlihy, Seacom president, said: "Seacom has always taken the stance that multiple cables will be needed to adequately address the expected growth in demand for the transport of IP traffic in the region."
Joint effort
Meanwhile, the WACS consortium and Alcatel-Lucent have signed a contract valued at several hundred million US dollars to deploy the new submarine cable network.
Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will provide connectivity between SA and Portugal.
"WACS has brought together a multitude of nations and some of the world`s most influential telecommunications players in a joint effort to use state-of-the-art technology in linking more people more efficiently than ever before," says Kobus Stoeder, chairman of the consortium`s management committee. "WACS will enable these countries to improve communications and Internet services that are crucial for a social and economic development.
"Alcatel-Lucent combines field-proven experience, reliability and the customer focus we need for such an exciting new project," notes Stoeder.
"Access to advanced technologies is key in some areas of the world that do not yet benefit from the Internet opportunities," says Georges Krebs, COO of Alcatel-Lucent`s submarine network activity. "By meeting the requirements of communications infrastructures in terms of flexibility and scalability, we help our customers to enhance their capacity and deliver a more seamless and reliable service so that end-users can enjoy the best experience possible."
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