SEACOM initiates services on Equiano submarine cable system
African communications services provider SEACOM says it has “gone live” on the Equiano submarine cable system via the cable landing station in Cape Town, South Africa. The company says it can now offer private line services with latency of ±110 ms between South Africa and Europe, thus making the connection over Equiano the fastest direct route between the Africa and Europe.
The initiation of services follows several months of equipment installation and verification, as well as upgrades to its transmission and IP network both locally and internationally, after the new Equiano submarine cable landed in Cape Town last August. SEACOM has partnered with Infinera, which has supplied optical transport systems based on the company’s ICE6 800G coherent transmission technology.
“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,” says Prenesh Padayachee, SEACOM’s group chief digital officer.
Google, the primary backer of Equiano, unveiled plans for the submarine cable system in 2019 (see "Google plans Equiano submarine cable link from Portugal to South Africa"). The subsea cable runs 15,000 km between Lisbon, Portugal, and South Africa. Equiano has a design capacity of 144 Tbps distributed across 12 fiber pairs. Besides the landing in Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, the submarine cable also lands in Rupert’s Bay, St. Helena (in the South Atlantic); Lomé, Togo; Lagos, Nigeria; and Swakopmund, Namibia. From these other African stations, branching units are planned that will extend connectivity to other African countries.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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