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Boost for digital economy as international subsea cable reaches Durban

The 2Africa undersea cable, which will help expand internet connectivity and provide a boost for South Africa’s digital economy, arrived in Durban on Monday.

This extension will bring the total length of the 2Africa cable system to over 45 000 kilometres, making it the longest subsea cable system in the world. West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) group chief operating officer Ryan Sher said the project aimed to connect the African continent.

Sher said: “It enables communication, speeds it up and adds volume to the amount of communication that Africa has. Ultimately, it enables industry and builds the economy.” The cable has a carrying capacity of 180 TBps (terabytes per second).

In a statement, WIOCC said to further support a burgeoning global digital economy, the expanded system will serve an even wider range of communities that rely on the internet for services. These ranged from education to health care and businesses, providing economic and social benefits that come from increased connectivity.

As announced in May 2020, 2Africa planned to bring seamless international connectivity to 1.2 billion people. Sher said the cable would help industries come together in an ecosystem that would benefit Africans. “This is the foundation of the digital economy and helps move us forward as a continent. A country cannot be without internet for weeks, so what’s needed are multiple cables to ... create a rich, always-on ecosystem.”

He said the new-generation cables are open-access and – unlike the older cables that ran in monopoly landing stations – are not restricted to interconnect costs. He said cable was not limited to one operator in each country. Sher said: “That is the big change in the global submarine [cable] industry; the move to open-access systems and the scale of them.”

Source: www.iol.co.za
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