SEACOM shows off 500Gbps fibre link in South Africa

[rpm]

SEACOM shows off 500Gbps fibre link in SA

SEACOM today demonstrated new 100G technology on their new South African fibre network, bringing 5 wavelengths online for a total of 500Gbps capacity.

 

[rpm]

Looks like a world first: Really great that innovation in the fixed line market is starting to take place in South Africa.

 

[Joe Average]

Sounds great. Any ISPs looking at making use of the new service provided by SEACOM ? Could this reduce the dependency on Telkom's national fibre network ? Estimates on when the consumer would benefit from this new infrastructure ?

 

[jmak]

Sounds great. Any ISPs looking at making use of the new service provided by SEACOM ? Could this reduce the dependency on Telkom's national fibre network ? Estimates on when the consumer would benefit from this new infrastructure ?

I believe most ISPs already making use of SEACOM. For national bandwidth SEACOM will be really useless since it is actually submarine cable which has now just extended its own reach by connecting its submarine cable to the business hotspot. I do actually have a feeling that fibre is not theirs either, just rented/borrowed/shared from DFA or similar. Anybody have more specific details about the fibre from Mtunzini to Gauteng and its ownership and TOS?

Lets hope that Infraco, DFA, FibreCo and other local consortiums will be able to provide national broadband in parallel to Telkom and allow prices to become more competitive with national bandwidth. Competition on national bandwidth and alternative last-mile connections will allow the consumer to win the most (imo). International bandwidth is already affordable and not a bottelneck for reduction in prices.

 

[Goedgedacht]

I do actually have a feeling that fibre is not theirs either, just rented/borrowed/shared from DFA or similar. Anybody have more specific details about the fibre from Mtunzini to Gauteng and its ownership and TOS?

No feeling needed The article states:

"The investment includes the purchase of physical optical fibre links from Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) as well as installing the equipment required for SEACOM to manage the network linking KwaZulu Natal’s coast where the SEACOM marine cable lands to two redundant Points of Presence (PoPs) in Gauteng."

 

[mfumbesi]

No feeling needed The article states:

I feel you man.

 

[HosstheBoss]

...International bandwidth is already affordable and not a bottelneck for reduction in prices.

That pretty much sums up our situation right now. These international bandwidth advancements are awesome but of little use to us when we are paying through our necks for the national portion.