OCTOBER 15, 2008 -- Alcatel-Lucent (search for Alcatel-Lucent) has signed a contract with the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) consortium to more than double the design capacity of the optical submarine cable network landing in East Africa. EASSy will now be able to deliver a regional capacity of 1.4 Tbits/sec, the highest capacity in the region.

The EASSy submarine cable network will provide connectivity across the continent to support the increase in local traffic from both traditional and new broadband services. Additionally, with interconnection to other submarine cable systems to the north and south, this project will provide an international gateway.

The EASSy submarine network will span nearly 10,000 km, linking eight countries from Sudan to South Africa, via Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Mozambique. Landings will be located in Port Sudan (Sudan), Djibouti (Djibouti), Mogadishu (Somalia), Mombasa (Kenya), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique), and Mtunzini (South Africa). By interconnecting with existing cables and other submarine systems currently under construction, the EASSy submarine cable system will also serve as a supporting infrastructure for these networks.

"This increase in final system capacity is another important step in the development of the African communication infrastructure, where there is a very strong need for affordable capacity," said Trevor Martins, MTN International, chairperson of the EASSy Management Committee.

"The upgrade to the submerged equipment will enable the EASSy consortium to support the enhanced capacity required to meet the new bandwidth requirements emerged in the past year," said Etienne Lafougere, president of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network activity.

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