SEACOM scoops awards

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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On the heels of the recently announced groundbreaking of the project’s cable landing stations sites in Mozambique and Kenya, the SEACOM undersea cable project was the recipient of three awards at Monday night’s 2008 Africa investor Infrastructure Awards event held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

SEACOM, its financier, Nedbank Capital and legal advisor, Bell Dewar & Hall, were presented with the awards for Sponsor of the Year, ICT Deal of the Year and Legal Advisor of the Year.

Commenting on the awards, Brian Herlihy, SEACOM President, said: “SEACOM is honored to have been recognized by Africa investor Infrastructure for its effort in bringing much needed bandwidth connectivity to east and southern Africa. I would like to thank our shareholders, financiers and advisors including, Hunton & Williams, Bell Dewar & Hall and Herbert Smith, in making this project a success for all its stakeholders. We look forward to continue working together as we race towards our ready for service date of June 2009.”

“We are delighted to have received this award and have played a leading role in this project which is undoubtedly one of the most important telecommunications infrastructure projects undertaken in the last five years,” said Mike Peo, head of Infrastructure Finance at Nedbank Capital.

Andrew Mitchell, Senior Partner of Bell Dewar & Hall, comments: "We were thrilled to be involved in this challenging and interesting project. The project had unique legal implications which were addressed in a collaborative manner between all participants. Everyone involved should be commended on their input and commitment".

Last Wednesday, SEACOM hosted over 100 people to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Maputo cable station in Mozambique. The groundbreaking event featured a symbolic turning of the soil with Graça Machel, the Honorable Deputy Minister of Communications, Science and Technology of Tanzania, Dr Maua Daftari, shareholders Andile Ngcaba from Convergence Partners, Dr. Kevin Kariuki of IPS and SEACOM President Brian Herlihy (see picture attached).

The groundbreaking coincided with the delivery of the eight containerized cable stations fully built out for connection to the cable in January 2009. SEACOM also announced that the first of three cable laying ships has arrived in Egypt to start laying cable in the Red Sea.

Seacom award discussion