Telkom unit Openserve is looking to increase its capacity to up to 16Tbps with the landing of Google’s Equiano undersea cable.
In a statement, Openserve says it facilitated the landing of the biggest undersea cable that runs along the west coast of Africa.
The Google Equiano undersea cable system arrived at the Openserve cable station facility in Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, on 8 August.
Earlier this month, Equiano partner the West Indian Ocean Cable Company announced the landing of the cable on South African shores.
Announced in 2019, the subsea cable is expected to be a massive job creation machine, driven by the expansion of the region’s digital economy and peripheral sectors.
Openserve’s cable station facility will serve as the SA landing station and will offer terrestrial services, connecting the cable landing to South African carrier-neutral data centres.
The announcement comes as SA is witnessing growth in data centre construction, as organisations anticipate a surge in data traffic with the landing of submarine cables.
Subsea cables are the global backbone of the internet, connecting people, businesses and economies around the world.
Among other submarine cables connecting Africa is 2Africa, which connects three continents − Africa, Europe and Asia.
This extension will bring the total length of the 2Africa cable system to more than 45 000km, making it the longest subsea cable system ever deployed.
Currently, Africa is the least connected continent, with only a quarter of its 1.3 billion people with access to the internet, says Kevin Salvadori, director of network investments at Meta Platforms, which is part of a consortium behind 2Africa.
He notes the 2Africa subsea cable system will provide nearly three times the total network capacity of all the subsea cables serving Africa today.
Another cable is the West Africa Cable System, a submarine cable linking 14 countries across Southern Africa and the UK.
The Africa Coast to Europe submarine cable is another example of a submarine cable that has gone live, with connections available at Teraco’s data centres across South Africa.
Seacom launched Africa’s first broadband submarine cable system along the continent’s eastern and southern coasts in 2009.
Openserve CEO Althon Beukes says: “The landing of the Equiano undersea cable marks a significant moment for SA’s telecommunications industry.
“Openserve will have access to a new submarine system offering connectivity to Europe, which will provide additional diversity for international communications. In the initial design, Openserve will have 12Tbp capacity, with current technology, and 16Tbps will be possible with upgrades.
“The arrival of Equiano will also have a meaningful impact on the domestic economy through encouraging digital inclusion by making connectivity accessible to more South Africans.”
Equiano runs from western Europe, along the west coast of Africa to South Africa.
According to Openserve, Equiano is the first submarine cable to incorporate optical switching at the fibre-pair level, as opposed to the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching.
It notes the private undersea cable has a capacity of 144 Terabytes per second, which is 20 times the capacity of the last cable built to serve the region.
In July, Equiano landed in Swakopmund, Namibia. The cable stretches from the coast of Portugal, with landing stations in St Helena Island, Togo, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa as the final point.
Google Sub-Saharan Africa MD Nitin Gajria, commenting on the landing of Equiano in SA, says: “We are committed to supporting Africa’s digital transformation and we are excited by the possibilities brought about by the arrival of the Equiano subsea cable to its final destination.
“We have partnered with Telkom/Openserve on this initiative and hope it will be a great catalyst to help grow the economy.”
The Telkom unit notes the increased connectivity capacity Equiano brings is expected to yield significant benefits for the relevant countries.
It points out this includes increased broadband penetration and higher internet usage. “This will subsequently create economic benefits through the growth of the information communications technology industry and the digital economy.”
The Google Equiano undersea cable will be operational this year.
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