Concrete time frames for undersea cable
Numerous submarine fiber cables are in the pipeline for South Africa – namely SEACOM, EASSy, InfraCo and the Nepad ICT infrastructure project. The official operational dates for these systems range from first quarter of 2009 for EASSy to mid 2009 for SEACOM and InfraCo.
But these operational deadlines are not always reliable. EASSy is an example of a system where the previously mentioned operational dates – which were initially given as the fourth quarter of 2007 – proved to be of little value other than for creating hype about the system.
SEACOM however is widely seen by telecoms experts as the one system which can be expected to be operational before 2010. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that they have already started with concrete steps to laying the cable like mapping out the ocean bed.
What makes the SEACOM cable unique is its turnkey agreement with Tyco who will be responsible for the full cable project. Tyco is bound by strict deadlines which include penalties if they are not met.
SEACOM has released firm time frames regarding their cable construction plans, and according to these time frames they have already started manufacturing the cable. SEACOM has further indicated that the cable will be open to customers by the end of June 2009.
Lengthy process
The SEACOM feasibility study started back in October 2005. This effectively means that it will take around four years for the full submarine cable project which is a good indication of the labour and time intensive nature of building an undersea cable.
The full project involves numerous time consuming components apart from the actual cable construction, like developing a business case, legal and regulatory assessments and negotiations, supply and construction agreements, maintenance and support agreements and landing & interconnect agreements.
Each of these components can take anything from a few months to two years to conclude if handled effectively. In the case of SEACOM it took from October 2005 until June 2007 to conclude the negotiations and planning required before the seabed surveying and actual cable manufacturing could start.
The Marine Survey – an integral part of any submarine cable project – stared in June 2007 and this process was completed on the 15 th of November this year.
Cable construction started towards the end of November, and this 19 month process which involves things like repeater manufacturing, the loading of three vessels and system testing, will be concluded on 1 June 2009. The operational deadline for the SEACOM cable is 30 June 2009.
SEACOM has further agreed to give regular updates on the progress of the project to ensure that stakeholders are kept abreast of developments and that the deadlines are met.
Other systems
The SEACOM project has moved relatively tirelessly but it will still have taken a full four years to be completed, raising questions as to whether other systems like InfraCo – a project that has been marred by political wranglings – have set realistic time frames.
Neither InfraCo nor the $ 2-Billion Nepad ICT infrastructure project have secured financing or finalized the project planning, which means that it is highly unlikely that either of these systems will be operational by 2010.
Even if all administrative, financial and interconnect issues are concluded within the next few months, the actual construction of the cable will push back the operational date to way beyond 2009.
There are also questions regarding the World Bank’s funding of EASSy as it may fall outside of the organization’s mandate as there are commercial interests in the East Coast submarine cable market.
South Africa is in desperate need of one or more additional cable systems to compete with the current SAT3/SAFE system, and it seems that SEACOM may be the first to bring relief to the South African international bandwidth marketplace.
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