WASACE is the latest company to build a submarine cable to take advantage of the growth of high bandwidth business and consumer traffic.
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WASACE network map |
Linking the major markets of four continents--Africa, South America, North America and Europe--the cable will leverage 100G technology. A key point of the new cable is that in addition to enhancing connectivity into established markets like North American and Europe, it will provide much-needed capacity to both Africa and Latin America.
Africa, in particular, has grown its submarine cable presence from just a few cables in 2000 to having almost nine that will connect nearly all of the continent's countries by 2012. Upon completion, Africa will have new southern hemisphere links such as the Africa-to-U.S. and Africa-to-South America routes.
Heading up the project is WASACE Cable Company Worldwide Holding, a multinational development company represented by CEO Ramon Gil-Roldan of Spain. Joining WASACE to provide project development will be the David Ross Group, represented by CEO David Ross of the US.
Funding for the new cable comes from four investors, including private equity firm VIP trust and the African Development Bank, in addition to a number of unnamed Brazilian and other investors.
While it will take time to assess the ultimate success of the WASACE cable, the company is part of an ongoing growth surge of the submarine cable industry. According to TeleGeography, service providers lit 10 new submarine cable systems in 2010, and 14 new cables will be completed by the end of this year followed by 11 more in 2012.
For more:
- see the release
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