Africa - Private sector begins mapping for seabed cable

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source: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/technology.aspx?ID=BD4A503649

Lesley Stones

WHILE progress on a government-backed undersea cable to boost Africa’s bandwidth remains embroiled in political bickering, private investors constructing a rival cable have begun mapping out the ocean bed ready to start installation.

Work has begun on the Seacom cable connecting SA to Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya.

It will then be linked to global networks in India, the Middle East and Europe.

The marine surveying is being carried out by Tyco Telecommunications, a pioneer in undersea communications technology that has designed and installed more than 80 undersea systems.

Tyco’s survey vessel, the Fugro Gauss, arrived in Durban on June 17 and was due to set off yesterday to begin assessing the 13000km route along the east coast of Africa.

The $300m project is being led by Herakles Telecom, but its vice- president, Brian Herlihy, has declined to identify other private investors backing the venture.

“The arrival of the Fugro Gauss in the Durban harbour to start the marine survey, which precedes the construction of the Seacom cable, is a reassurance to the African communities which we serve of our commitment to construction deadlines,” said Herlihy.

Seacom’s fibreoptic link is due to go live early in 2009 and promises cheap, high-capacity bandwidth for national carriers, broadcasters, and education and research networks.

“East and South African user demand for international bandwidth, whether for business, institution or individual use, has greatly surpassed the existing supply,” said Herlihy.

“Seacom, as an international submarine cable system, will provide significant supply at affordable prices.

“The system will deliver infrastructure support for the growth of the information and communication technology sector, in particular business process outsourcing, call centres, pharmaceutical research industries and education networks.”

The Indian Ocean’s African seabed is the only one in the world without a fibreoptic cable, forcing Africa to rely heavily on expensive satellite links and to route calls between neighbouring countries via Europe.

Earlier this year, Associated Press quoted Herlihy as saying: “We think that the high price of satellite communication is creating an artificially low demand market and, because of that, we think there is pent-up demand.”

Less progress has been made with the East African Submarine System (Eassy), a 9900km fibreoptic line supposed to link SA to Sudan. Last week, Parliament ratified the broadband protocol of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), effectively imposing political power over the Eassy project, even though the $300m cable is being funded by the private sector.

The Democratic Alliance voted against ratification, with spokeswoman Dene Smuts opposing the move to hijack Eassy and fold it into the Nepad initiative. This will give the government representatives a golden share and veto rights.

The Eassy project has been held up since 2002 by wrangling over its funding and ownership, and by political intervention to make sure its bandwidth is not kept artificially expensive by the telecom operators investing in it.