Seacom switches on East Africa

After a high-stakes cat and mouse game with pirates off the Somali coast, the first submarine cable linking East Africa and the rest of the world went live last week even though security costs escalated.

The commercial launch of the privately owned Seacom undersea fibre-optic cable simultaneously in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa on Thursday is expected to provide the region with high-capacity connectivity at much lower rates than the existing satellite networks do.

Backhauls linking Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala with the coastal landing stations were also established, and Seacom is now working with its national partners to presently commission the final links to Kigali and Addis Ababa.

Seacom chief operating officer Jean-Louis Parmentier told The EastAfrican that the pirates delayed their schedule by 55 days.

“In the real sense, we fell behind by 20 days,” Mr Parmentier said.

The firm had to engage the services of a top-notch security firm on the three cable-laying ships for 55 days, overshooting the budget by 5 per cent.

“This was taken care of by a contingency fund and will not be passed over to the consumers,” Mr Parmentier hastened to add.

East Africans can now expect faster Internet services, huge increases in bandwidth, an end to slow dial-up connections and crackling long-distance calls and, above all, a reduction in the cost of accessing the Internet, concluded a blogger in the numerous blogospheres that came up the moment the Seacom cable landed.

The cable runs along the eastern seaboard of Africa, creating a digital superhighway that links South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya with Europe and South Asia. 

It extends to Marseilles, France, where it connects to Interoute’s network providing a speed-of-light route to Europe, North America and the Middle East, as well as access to Interoute’s range of wholesale and enterprise services.

The sub-sea cable will offer 1.28 terabits per second of capacity, enabling high definition TV, peer-to-peer networks and IPTV, and supporting surging Internet demand. 

“Fibre-optic cable investments in rural areas and landlocked African countries are going to multiply when Seacom’s plan to bring access to low-cost bandwidth succeeds,” said Seacom International CEO Brian Herlihy. “The cable is fundamental in unlocking the continent’s Internet potential.”

With the 17,000-kilometre intercontinental fibre-optic network connecting to Interoute’s network, it will provide access to major business centres in Europe and throughout the rest of the world.

The agreement will allow Interoute and Seacom to open up new telecommunications opportunities in the region, as well as supporting the growing demand for broadband.

The region has seen a phenomenal increase in demand for Internet connectivity, with users rising by 1,062 per cent between 2000 and 2008. 

The launch of Seacom is an important milestone for African telecoms and we are delighted to be a part of it by providing the European connectivity from the cable’s landing point in Marseille,” said Interoute CEO Gareth Williams.

“Demand for bandwidth across Africa has been outstripping supply for some time, so the new cable is crucial for the growth of business on the continent.

“Linking our system to the Interoute network provides vital access to Europe and the rest of the world, opening up the region to important business hubs across the globe.”

Seacom becomes the first landing of an unprecedented wave of cable projects on both the eastern and western seaboards of Africa, with an approximated $2.4 billion worth of new submarine cable projects scheduled for completion by the end of 2011.

The East African Marine System (Teams), due later this year, will link Kenya and the United Arab Emirates while the Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which lands in many of the same countries as Seacom, is expected to commence service in mid-2010.

Four new cable projects are currently planned in the west coast of Africa.

According to TeleGeography’s Global Bandwidth Research Service, international bandwidth demand in sub-Saharan Africa grew 68 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

Seacom will soon be joined by two more cables.

The East African Marine System (Teams), scheduled for completion later in 2009, will link Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, and the Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which lands in many of the same countries as Seacom, is expected to commence service in mid-2010.

The west coast of Africa, which is currently served only by the SAT-3 cable, is experiencing a similar investment boom — four new cable projects are currently planned.