Cape Town, July 23: The African continent has caught up with the rest of the world’s information superhighway with the launch of the long-awaited Seacom cable.
Seacom, partnering with network equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems, has unveiled its undersea fibre optic network on Thursday with simultaneous demonstrations in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa.
“Seacom is turning on the switch for you to enjoy true broadband!” the companies said in a joint statement.
Media and stakeholders attending the launch were provided direct access to true broadband connectivity, and entertained with live broadcasts and interactive real-time presentations across the system.
The 1.28 Terabits per second, 17 000 kilometres, submarine fibre optic cable system links south and east Africa to global networks via India and Europe.
Seacom will effectively link Cape Town and Johannesburg with London using Neotel as a partner.
Neotel will have a Johannesburg PoP and Cape Town PoP which are connected to the Mtunzini cable station where the Seacom cable landed in late May.
—Agencies