WiredInUSA May 2016

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wiredInUSA - May 2016 37 ASIA / AFRICA NEWS
MTN Group, PCCW Global, Saudi Telecom
Company (STC), Telecom Egypt (TE)
and Telkom South Africa have signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU)
with the intention of constructing the
new Africa-1 submarine cable system.
This consortium-funded system will
connect Africa with the Middle East and
south central Asia, and provide onward
connectivity to Europe.
Companies named in the MoU bring
wide experience in the deployment
of major cable systems, and they are
expected to be joined by other carriers
seeking to contribute to, and share
in, Africa-1’s success. The consortium
members have access to landings at all
major cable systems in the Middle East,
which will facilitate efficient and effective
connectivity between Africa-1 and the
rest of the world.
Africa-1 will have at least 3-fiber pair core
that extends over 12,000km along Africa’s
east coast towards Saudi Arabia, Egypt
and Pakistan, with up to an additional
5,000km for branches. Africa-1 will utilize
100G technology and will be equipped
to accommodate several terabits of
capacity from day one.
Cable consortium
Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP and TE
SubCom have begun construction work
on the 14,000km trans-Pacific Hawaiki
submarine cable system, linking Australia
and New Zealand to mainland United
States and Hawaii. The system is expected
to be completed by mid-2018, offering
the fastest link between Sydney and the
US west coast at over 30Tb capacity.
Hawaiki will be a privately owned and
carrier-neutral cable. Sir Eion Edgar and
Remi Galasso, the co-developers of the
project, have entered into a long-term
partnership and joined forces with
entrepreneur Malcolm Dick, to fund and
operate the multi-million dollar cable
system.
“This is a fantastic achievement for the
team. We are delighted to move to the
implementation phase and pursue our
collaboration with TE SubCom,” said
Mr Galasso, chief executive officer of
Hawaiki. “They have demonstrated a full
commitment to the project since the early
stages of development, and are a true
partner of Hawaiki.”
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