Countdown to broadband begins

Johannesburg - The countdown to cheap and freely available broadband has begun. This is according to Seacom president Brian Herlihy, who said the first portions of a deepwater cable had been laid.

The Africa-owned undersea, fibre-optic cable will provide high capacity bandwidth linking business and communities in Southern and Eastern Africa, Europe and Asia by June.

"We are delighted to have actual cable in the water and the countdown to June has begun," said Herlihy in a company announcement on Wednesday.

Most of SA's international bandwidth is trafficked along fibre-optic cables to which Telkom and Neotel have exclusive access. The bandwidth provided by Seacom will remove this duopoly, increase competition, improve the quality of broadband and drive market prices down.

The cable is now resting on the seabed of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. It has been laid from the edge of SA waters to Mozambique, while cable-laying is also proceeding in the Red Sea from Egypt towards the coast of Yemen.

A third ship is being loaded with the remainder of Seacom's deepwater cable. This is to be deployed from India towards Africa, where the three cable segments will be joined.

"We have made tremendous progress since our ground-breaking in Mozambique last November, and we can now sense a real level of excitement for Seacom's arrival," said Herlihy.

"Through my travels, I continuously meet people who speak about the many ways they intend to exploit the world of broadband which is about to reach Africa."

- Fin24.com