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New High Speed Submarine Cable Will Connect South Africa To India By 2019

New High Speed Submarine Cable Will Connect South Africa To India By 2019

A new high speed submarine cable will reach South African shores in 2019, with the country at the southern tip of Africa set to be connected to India via islands in the Indian Ocean.

The telecommunications system will be built by Alcatel Submarine Networks and Indian Ocean Exchange Cable, with a contract signed and work beginning immediately to connect Mauritius, Rodrigues, Reunion, India and South Africa via high speed cable, according to Techcentral.

The Indian Ocean Exchange Cable System will be around 5,500 miles long will be completed in 2019, becoming the first open-access cable system in the region, the companies said.

The new high speed cable will enhance communication capabilities along the India-to-South Africa route, connecting with current and future submarine networks for further connectivity to the West coast of Africa, Middle East, Europe, U.S. and other parts of Asia, Telecompaper reports.

Once completed the Indian Ocean Exchange Cable System will have an ultimate design capacity of over 54Tbit/s, according to Businesstech.

New submarine cable for SA

At the moment there are four submarine cable systems connected to South Africa for telecommunications purposes, with SAT-3/WACS, Seacom, WACS, and EASSy all beginning operation within the last 15 years, MyBroadband reports.

Indian Ocean Exchange Cable CEO Arunachalam Kandasamy said the cable system will open up a further gateway connecting South Africa to India and beyond.

“The ultra-high speed IOX Cable system will connect Mauritius and Rodrigues to the east coast of SA on one side and the east coast of India on the other,” said Kandasamy, according to BusinessDay.

“The contract is in force and the system is targeted to be completed in 2019. This is a significant achievement in making the Indian Ocean islands a key gateway between Asia and Africa with onward connectivity to Europe, Middle East and the Americas,” he said.

“We would like to thank Alcatel Submarine Networks for their strategic support from the early stages of the project and we look forward to delivering an ultra-high speed open-access cable system that will significantly enhance the broadband infrastructure of today’s digital economy,” the CEO added.