Investors, mobile network operators and ICT service providers agree that the West African Cable System (WACS), launched in Cape Town this week, will address issues with access, data speeds and reliable connectivity across Africa.
The first benefit of WACS identified for the continent is that countries like Namibia, Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will, for the first time, leverage off direct international submarine cable connectivity between London-based Point of Presence (PoP) and landing points in Europe and at the Telkom-run landing site in Yzerfontein, Western Cape.
WACS is led by a consortium that has invested into the project to link up Africa with Europe, along a fibre optic cable that stretches across a network of landing points that connect continents.
All fourteen members of the consortium, comprising Neotel, MTN, Vodacom, Telkom SA, as well as several telcos from regions such as Namibia, Angola, Congo, Spain, Portugal and Togo, amongst others, agree that the project will also mean an increase in competition within the telecommunications services and application space. This bodes well for Africa as whole they say.
There are already cabling initiatives in place, including SEACOM, but according to investors, redundancy and the prevention of any impact on service as a result of unforeseen problems with existing cabling infrastructure meant room for an additional service.
The submarine cable system is expected to raise South Africa’s current broadband capacity by more than 500 Gigabits per second (Gbps). This is upgradable at any stage of the project life span.
Connectivity between SA and the UK will be a matter of milliseconds explained Adrian Moss, Chairman of the WACS management committee.
“Although we have had to deal with some challenges, such as civil unrest in some areas and changes in legislation, the project will officially go live at noon today,” said Moss. “It has taken 1130 days to launch, but we now have the first direct submarine cable service between Europe, West Africa and South Africa for over ten years.”
Dr Angus Hay, General Manager, Strategic Business Development at Neotel, said the company has always been an infrastructure-based player and this is the basis of its investment in SA. He spoke of greater access to infrastructure and the role played by WACS in upping connectivity across the continent.
Michael Ikpoki, CEO of MTN Ghana, believes the timing of this initiative could not be better – particularly with the relevance of broadband services in Africa, as well as the focus on the rollout of 3G and LTE services.
“The introduction of WACS will address both technological shortfalls experienced by most of Africa’s disadvantaged communities, and stimulate economic growth in those countries,” said Ikpoki.
Management at Telkom concurs. “The demand for greater capacity and faster speeds is ever-present. The introduction of WACS will deliver connectivity to the continent like never before,” said Casper Kondo Chihaka, Telkom’s Managing Executive of Wholesale Services.
Chris Tredger
At last…I remember researching undersea cabling systems in 1996 – especially Africa One which was supposed to come on stream in 2002. Glad that governments are finally getting how critical fast internet is to their economies – now all we need is reasonable pricing from operators and cheap 4G.