Africa's ICT progress 'relies on new submarine cables'

17 December 2009

Africa's data services progress relies on the ability of new submarine internet cables to provide more available international bandwidth at a lower cost.

Indeed, for the continent to develop its ICT infrastructure and benefit from the economic potential of being better connected, cables need to live up to their promises, said James Middleton in a recent article for Telecoms.com.

His comments follow this week's announcement that Tunisie Telecom had landed Hannibal - the first subsea cable in Europe 100 per cent owned by Africa.

It will give Tunisia an alternative route to the Keltra and Sea-Me-We-4 submarine cables, which is set to provide more reliable and secure networks for people to use.

According to one of the companies involved with the development, the cable - which has a total capacity of 3.2 terabytes per second - will also support IP internet service roll-outs across neighbouring countries.

Interoute chief executive officer Gareth Williams added: "It is a very exciting time for the country as it is one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in Africa."

Category: ICT