The Island nation of Madagascar has been connected to Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System, EASSy fibre optic cable that connects countries on Africa’s eastern coast to the rest of the world, Telecom Malagasy (Telma) said Saturday.

The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is an initiative to connect countries of eastern Africa via a high bandwidth fibre optic cable system to the rest of the world. It is considered a milestone in the development of information infrastructure in the region.

According to Telma, it has already put in place a national backbone that will enable it to link users to the cable.  Telma has invested 70 Million USD in a 3300km National Fiber Optic Backbone; Telma is also the 5th contributor to the EASSY.

Once users have access to the cable, the island should be able to develop outsourcing activities such as call centres, Telma said.

Twenty-seven operators from 22 countries, both on Africa’s eastern coast and their landlocked neighbours, have joined together in the EASSy project worth some $260m overall.

Madagascar was already connected last year by telecoms operator Orange to the submarine Lion cable, which linked it to two other Indian Ocean islands, Reunion and Mauritius.

Source: News 24

The much awaited East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which was expected to land at Mtunzini, KwaZulu Natal , South Africa, during the weekend finally landed this morning at 8.04am, Telkom South Africa Group Communication and Brand Specialist told Techmtaa in press release through email.

The landing was planned initially for Saturday but Telkom’s Pynee Chetty, said the company Alcatel-Lucent, tasked with connecting the under-sea cables with the ones outside (off-shore) failed to do so over the weekend, however the cable landed this morning. Telkom is a landing partner of the cable.

Various Cable links sorrounding the continent

EASSy total length is 10.000 km. It’s an undersea cable system which will connect various parts of Sub-Saharan Africa to mainly Europe and Asia by 2011.

Interconnection with other undersea international cable systems will enable traffic on EASSy to seamlessly connect to Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia, thereby enhancing the east coast of Africa’s connectivity to the global telecommunications network.

It is expected that the success of EASSY will see telephone call rates and internet prices reduce drastically.

The project costs R1.74 billion (US$235) and is being financed by African Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank, Germany’s development bank KfW and the French development bank AFD respectively.

EASSY will link Sudan to South Africa via Djibouti, Somalia, Tanzania, Madagascar,Botswana, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.The under-sea project will also have landing points in Port Sudan, Djibouti, Mogadishu (Somalia), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique), and Mtunzini in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

EASSy is routed from South Africa to Sudan, linking the coastal countries of East Africa.

“An extensive backhaul system linking landlocked countries to the coastal countries has been developed and is at various stages of completion”, stated Samuels, adding that EASSy is scheduled to be ready for commercial service by August this year.

Alcatel-Lucent’s Ile De Batz cable-laying ship in Durban harbour — (c) TechCentral

Contractors preparing the Mtunzini landing site for the arrival of the cable — (c) TechCentral

IMAGES: TECHCENTRAL