Alcatel Submarine Networks begins construction of Africa-1 subsea cable connecting Africa, Middle East and Europe
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has announced that it has started construction of the Africa-1 subsea cable connecting Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The 10,000 km subsea cable which is also backed leading telecom operators such as UAE’s Etisalat, G42, Mobily, Pakistan Telecommunication Company, and Telecom Egypt will supply 8 fiber pairs to connect Africa and the Middle East to Pakistan and Westward to Europe. More companies are also expected to join soon increasing the available transmission capacity between Asia and Europe.
The Africa-1 system is expected to be ready for operation by end 2023 and will initially have landings in Kenya, Djibouti, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France. The system will also land in Sudan, cross Egypt through diverse new terrestrial routes on the way to France, and further connect other countries in the Mediterranean such as Algeria, Tunisia and Italy.
The next phase will include additional landings in Yemen and Somalia, as well as an extension from Kenya to South Africa with intermediate landings in Tanzania and Mozambique.
“We are proud that the Africa-1 consortium members have chosen ASN, their trusted and experienced partner in the region, to build and deploy the Africa-1 system, an addition to the global network that will interconnect millions of people and take part in the digital development of the whole region”. Alain Biston, President and CEO of Alcatel Submarine Networks said.
The system will be equipped from day 1 with ASN 1620 Softnode transmission equipment, featuring high performance 200/300/400 Gb/s advanced coherent XWAV line cards.
The Africa-1 system will support Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and other Asian countries on their journey to digital transformation and will make it possible to transport ever-increasing volumes of traffic between the three continents.
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