eFive Telecoms has this week awarded US firm, TE SubCom with the supply contract for its undersea cable system, the South Atlantic Express (SAEx), which aims to link South Africa to the Americas.
The two-fibre pair, (80 x 100Gbs per fibre pair) 9,900km cable system will link South Africa and Brazil, wherefrom fast access to North America and Asia will be possible.
En route to Fortaleza in Brazil, SAEx will connect Mtunzini, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in South Africa; with an unrepeated spur to St Helena Island, and a branching unit included to enable further connectivity to West Africa.
“SAEx will provide the most direct routing and lowest latency from South Africa to the Americas, as well as high speed communications between East and West, placing South Africa at the hub of this network, whilst enhancing the connectivity and reliability of the global submarine cable network, ” said eFive’s CEO, Dr Ros Thomas.
According to eFive, the SAEx system will provide a wet link between the east and west coast submarine cable systems supporting southern Africa, and restoration for domestic terrestrial networks, improving South Africa’s connectivity.
If this cable system becomes a reality, it will be the fifth major submarine cable system to go live in South Africa after SAT-3/SAFE, SEACOM, EASSy and WACS.
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