Large submarine cable ready for business

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Just seven months after commencing cable construction and installation, and following a comprehensive program of testing, the WIOCC-EASSy cable is now complete, has gone live and is ready for business.

This marks the launch of the largest submarine system serving sub-Saharan Africa. The cable, which was completed on time and on budget, will revolutionize global connectivity in Africa, connecting 21 countries in eastern and southern Africa to the rest of the world.

"WIOCC's EASSy cable went live last Friday and the first circuits are already being provisioned on the network. The success of the WIOCC-EASSy model, with 26 telecoms operators as members, means that we already have a large volume of traffic to load onto the network.

"WIOCC has sold more than 7Gbps of capacity and in total approximately two thirds of the initial lit capacity of 30Gbps (three 10Gbps wavelengths) has been sold. With another 80+ Gbps upgrade planned within the next six to twelve months and the option of lighting 40Gbps wavelengths in the future WIOCC will deliver the most cost effective and reliable bandwidth to the region for many years to com" said Chris Wood, the WIOCC CEO.

For the full story, please visit IT News Africa.