Progress on BRICS submarine cable

Alcatel had already mapped the cable route, which will connect the BRICS cable with existing undersea cables along the way.

Feasibility studies for the upcoming BRICS undersea cable have been completed, says the Department of Communications.

Speaking at the North-West ICT Summit, Communications minister, Dina Pule explained that Alcatel had already mapped the cable route, which will connect the BRICS cable with existing undersea cables along the way.

“The speed of the cable is set to be 12.8Tb/second. These steps will strengthen the country’s data backbone and will improve the offering of broadband Internet and data-related services,” Pule said.

The cable will strengthen the country’s data backbone and improve broadband Internet, says Dina Pule.

In March 2012, President Jacob Zuma announced at a BRICS meeting in Delhi that a 34 000km undersea cable linking Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa would be completed at a cost of more than $1 billion.

Pule also highlighted the importance of broadband infrastructure - explaining  the cable would allow South Africa to leapfrog towards becoming a knowledge based society and accelerate the pace in order to remain globally competitive.

“South Africa has begun initiatives to invest in technology and infrastructure. The landing of the undersea cable West African Cable System (WACS) is one of several projects expected to double South Africa’s broadband capacity.”

WACS went live in May. The 17 200 km ultra high capacity fibre optic submarine cable system spans 14 countries and links Southern Africa and Europe, spanning the west coast of Africa from Cape Town, South Africa, and terminating in London, United Kingdom, with a total of fifteen landing points.