Telecommunications and managed services provider Seacom has gone live on Google’s Equiano subsea cable following its landing in Cape Town in August 2022.
Seacom’s services through the cable, which include private line services with latency speeds of about 110 ms between South Africa and Europe, making it the fastest direct route between the continents, have been available since March 16.
This followed Seacom’s fulfilment, with the assistance of technology partner Infinera, of the necessary equipment and installation requirements, completing the extensive work to support the new connection, including upgrades to its transmission and Internet Protocol (IP) network both locally and internationally.
As part of the service available to wholesale and enterprise clients from March, Seacom will offer an express route from Cape Town to Lisbon, with clients accessing high-speed connectivity without having their data rerouted to other countries during transmission.
The cable now forms part of Seacom’s subsea cable ecosystem surrounding Africa, supported by a continentwide IP Multi-Protocol Label Switching network.
“This launch results from years of project negotiations and planning, driven by a goal to be ready to offer quality service to our customers from day one,” says Seacom group chief digital officer Prenesh Padayachee.
“The Equiano subsea cable represents a new stage in Africa’s digital transformation, meeting Africa’s growing data requirements, enabling cross-border digital trade, and offering citizens and enterprises new opportunities.”