ACE submarine cable extends to SA

[WoW]

Our dream of fast and uncapped internet could become a reality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alchemist]

Now, if we could just figure out how to get a proper well maintained, stable fixed line to everyone's house that can actually support speeds of 20+Mbps...

 

[Kawak]

its called LLU which won't happen anytime soon with (I)ncredibily (C)orrupt (A)uthority of SA.

or lets see if there is anyway the joburg, cape town and durban wugs can connect then we will LLU ourselves

 

[Tns]

and what and if ever will the average consumer see of this? come on we all know who

 

[Gaz{M}]

Do yourself a favour and read the wikipedia article on "Austalia Internet". You can see how competition plus the new cables made a big difference to the Internet market. We seem to follow their trend almost exactly, just 4-5 years behind. Austalia is also an island much like South Africa, since all our traffic goes to US/Japan, plus it is a country with huge distances between major cities on the coasts. We face similar challenges, so looking to their recent Internet history is like having a crystal ball for the next 3-5 years.

 

[LazyLion]

Can someone confirm this? Or is he blowing out of bagpipe?

Just another one of the pessimist's doing their thing?

 

[Hellbilly Deluxe]

So what ? Unless our "broadband" becomes afforable and we get some real speeds , No one is going to sign up and those cables are gonna stay dark , like africa.

I really wish i was not so negative , but until seacom really starts kicking in , im not holding my breath

my 2 cents

 

[Tinuva]

Cable from SA to France...hmm interesting. Should gave nice latency to the wow players on europe servers...

Quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Australia

Telstra is obligated to give discounted price for its wholesale and network access to its competitors in order to prevent Telstra from creating a monopoly due to its control of most of the existing communication infrastructure. The ACCC has also allowed other providers to install some of their own equipment cheaply in Telstra exchanges, in particular, DSLAMs. This has helped lower the price of ADSL 2+ internet for Australians as ISPs must compete (offer lower prices, offer better packages) with each other in order to attract customers.

Mandatory wholesale access for broadband only includes Telsra's ADSL 1 network and does not include Telstra's newer ADSL 2+ network. [39] As a result many Australians can only get ADSL 2+ connections through Telstra as other ISPs only install equipment in areas that give them a definite return. Telstra ADSL 2+ connections are slightly more expensive than ADSL 1 connections and thus many Australians have stayed with ADSL 1 unless they can get ADSL 2+ through another provider. Telstra wholesales ADSL 2 to other ISPs of its own accord..

 

[poolmania]

we gonna have more fibre hanging off the edge of the continent than on the continent itself!

haha, and that will be the problem down the line 2010+. Lots of fibre connecting SA to the world but the local fibre up to ****e. Then the leading ISP's will be awash with reasons why the prices haven't come down as much as expected. Why you say? because the local infrastructure is the pitts.

Sorry for the negative post but I thought I had to say it.

To all the ISP's out there, prove me wrong.

 

[Paddo]

SAs intercity connections are so rubbish that SEACOM will do nothing for us in Cape Town. Latency is already higher on the local hops than the international hops.
Hopefully ACE will land in CT and solve our problems!

 

[Rouxenator]

This is excellent news.

I am a bit of a pessimist when it comes to Seacom bringing down the prices because the first excuse companies come up with is redundancy (never bothered them before). But if we get more cables - I think there is possibly three more to come - then they will have no excuse not to bring down the prices.

So perhaps 2009 is a bit early to be hoping for dramatic price decreases but I am sure in 2011 it will be dirt cheap.

 

[I am Penguin]

They will meet the local idiots, with a stern face, that will outlaw them, overtax them and prevent them from supplying cheaper bandwidth to the local broadband consumer whores.

 

[Sting]

Looks like Telkom has reserved all the 100% working intercity 10Gb/s fibres (plus redundancy routing) for the FIFA Confed Cup and SWC.... so don't expect miracles on your latency until post SWC2010.

 

[Tns]

This is excellent news.
So perhaps 2009 is a bit early to be hoping for dramatic price decreases but I am sure in 2011 it will be dirt cheap.

i have heard this for a while now just the date changes

 

[afrodeity]

Whatever they are landing now, won't be enough bandwidth. We need everything we can get and more. Then we need fibre to the door, and lots of it. Eventually we will be able to communicate with the West on a parity level and do business on a level playing field, but until then, we are cripples.

 

[Jupiter909]

How many are we now supposed to have by say 2012 that we know of?

The confirmed new cables due to serve West, East and Southern Africa are:
SEACOM, East and Southern Africa, 1.28Tb/s – Due end June 2009
GLO-1, West Africa,640 Gb/s, ready for operations, 2009 AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
TEAMS, East and Southern Africa, 120Gb/s – Due September 2009 - CURRENTLY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
EASSy, East and Southern Africa, 1.Tb/s – Due June 2010
MainOne, West Africa, 1.92Tb/s, due 2010
WACS, West and Southern Africa, 3.8Tb/s, Due 2011

And then this latest cable.

Enjoy...

 

[Jupiter909]

How many are we now supposed to have by say 2012 that we know of?

Just worked out the values.
just a reminder to folks, transfer is in bits that are div 1000, data is div 1024

So, current capacity in SA in data storage per second.
9.3GigaBytes

2012
1243GigaBytes

 

[ssong]

@Jupiter909 - apologies for the pedantry but...
GLO-1 appears to be stalled - no news from them for months
EASSy - planned capacity is now 1.4 terabits
TEAMs - only goes to Kenya and their planned capacity is now 1.28 terabits
MainOne - have scaled back their ambitions for now and will terminate in Lagos

 

[LazyLion]

EASSy - planned capacity is now 1.4 terabits

am I correct in assuming that EASSY does not bring any bandwidth to the continent, it only shares existing bandwidth up the East Coast of Africa?

 

[ssong]

am I correct in assuming that EASSY does not bring any bandwidth to the continent, it only shares existing bandwidth up the East Coast of Africa?

EASSy is definitely bringing bandwidth to the continent. Only problem is that it is a traditional closed-club cartel and probably unlikely to be terribly competitive until there is serious pressure.

Well, actually it is not completely traditional. The World Bank have funded a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) within the cartel in order to ensure that it is not a completely closed club. However this is probably irrelevant as all of those negotiations took place when EASSy was the only new cable planned for sub-Saharan Africa back in 2005. Competition will be the price driver.