Countdown to Seacom switch-on

THE $600 MILLION Seacom cable construction is complete and SA is now counting down the last month until the cable is ready for use. The cable is expected to be ready on 27 June. The fibre optic cable, expected to contribute to cheaper and faster broadband, runs along the east coast of Africa,  linking Southern and East Africa, Europe and South Asia.

Seacom took the media on a tour of the cable landing site recently, to update them on the long-awaited cable`s progress. Brian Herlihy, CEO of Seacom, says the project has been "very interesting from a development perspective". He says there have been challenges, most recently, the presence of pirates near the Horn of Africa. However, Herlihy says it was more difficult to lay cables in Middle Eastern waters than African waters, and African regulators were not as reluctant and prohibitive as expected.

Another challenge in getting the project off the ground was finding investors - because Seacom was already $200 million into the project before there was anything visible to show potential investors, he says.

In addition, laying the submarine cable system involved careful planning to ensure that the cables were well protected and that they made as little impact as possible on the natural environment and fishing activities.

MTUNZINI

The cable landing site in SA is situated in Mtunzini, a town in KwaZulu-Natal. The site was chosen for several reasons. The ocean floor topography was ideal, says Herlihy, and the area is away from the heavy traffic of Durban and Richard`s Bay. There is also less fishing in this area.

The SAFE cable system has a landing station in that area, and EASSY is expecting to land nearby too, making it more convenient for operators building their own networks.

The site is situated near a nature reserve, so to avoid intruding on a conservation area, Seacom bought land already zoned for industrial use from Transnet.

WORD IS OUT

If South Africans weren`t well aware of the cable`s coming, Seacom has begun an online marketing campaign to spread the word. It has been active on its blog, and has information on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

These channels all have rich multimedia content and will benefit from the Seacom cables going live.

Herlihy says end-users should start feeling the effects of the Seacom cable fairly soon after it goes live, but this will largely depend on the operators.