- African telecoms and managed services provider SEACOM has announced that it has gone live on the Equiano subsea cable.
- SEACOM says it will offer private line services with latency speeds of ~110ms between SA and Europe.
- The services are available as of today.
Much has been made of the Equiano subsea cable that landed in Cape Town in August of last year. A number of service providers have announced access to the cable, with the latest being telecoms and managed services specialist SEACOM.
The company confirmed that it has gone live on Equiano, offering private line services with latency speeds of ~110ms between South Africa and Europe. It adds that this is the fastest direct route between the continents.
The services are available starting today, with SEACOM fulfilling the necessary equipment and installation requirements with the help of its technology partner, Infinera. The cable now forms part of SEACOM’s subsea cable ecosystem surrounding Africa, which is supported by a continent-wide IP-MPLS network.
“This launch results from years of project negotiations and planning, driven by a goal to be ready to offer quality service to our customers from day one. The Equiano subsea cable represents a new stage in Africa’s digital transformation, meeting Africa’s growing data requirements, enabling cross-border digital trade, and offering citizens and enterprises new opportunities,” highlighted Prenesh Padayachee, SEACOM’s Group chief digital officer.
“Infinera is delighted to partner with SEACOM to light the Equiano subsea cable with our industry-leading ICE6 800G technology. With the industry’s highest spectral efficiency, ICE6 enables SEACOM to maximise the number of high-speed services they can offer, providing multiple terabits of capacity on this critical subsea link,” added Nick Walden, Infinera SVP of Worldwide Sales, in a press release sent to Hypertext.
SEACOM has also pointed out the potential economic benefit that Equiano represents, along with the improvements when it comes to connectivity.
To that end, it cites a Regional Economic Impact Assessment by Africa Practice, commissioned by Google and published in 2021, which says the cable will increase South Africa’s GDP by $5.8 billion and create 180 000 indirect jobs by 2025.
To find out more about access to the subsea cable via SEACOM, head here.
