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Cape Town - Building of a four-fibre broadband undersea ring around Africa is under way, according to South African
government officials. While a Nigerian consortium is building a two-fibre link from Nigeria to Portugal, UhuruNet, a consortium that involves the special purpose vehicle established under Nepad, African telecommunication companies and other investors, is planning to piggyback another two-fibre link on it.
Keith Shongwe, the deputy director general for ICT international affairs and trade at the communications department, told a media briefing in Parliament on Wednesday that a similar partnership arrangement would be made
between the department of public enterprises' Infraco Broadband's two-fibre line aimed at linking Nigeria with South Africa and UhuruNet.
UhuruNet is itself meanwhile going ahead with its plan to partner with a Kenyan consortium aiming to link Kenya with Europe, and with linking Kenya to South Africa.
Calling it a "very big initiative", Shongwe said the submarine cable would encircle the continent with forward connections to Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. This is a continental cable that will see close on to 3.9 terabits in total, providing more than sufficient access and connectivity to the continent.
The rapid deployment of these submarine cables will have a direct effect on economic growth, Shongwe said. "It has both social and economic benefits," he said.
"From a social perspective, you look at the impact it has on education - increasing access to knowledge, increasing access to information. From a health perspective you look at opportunities of improving healthcare delivery through mediums such as telemedicine and other means of remote access to health care.
"From an economic perspective you look at opportunities around the development of industries like business process outsourcing, and the support that would give to businesses. We look at opportunities whereby global businesses would have access to their offices throughout the world."
- I-Net Bridge