1 Gbps and counting
Neotel recently announced that it has obtained its own SAT-3/SAFE capacity as a result of the Tata Communications shareholding change that was approved earlier this year. Neotel provisioned this new capacity from Melkbosstrand to Sesimbra in Portugal on SAT-3 and from Mtunzini to Cochin (India) on SAFE.
“Neotel has been collocated in the two South African landing stations for some time, and can now access its own SAT-3/SAFE capacity in this way. Together with Tata Communications, Neotel can now offer global end-to-end services with no technical or commercial dependency on any other operator,” Neotel said.
According to Angus Hay, Chief Technology Officer at Neotel, they have already exceeded 1 Gbps on the SAT3/SAFE cable system, and there is still very strong demand for more international bandwidth.
One of the biggest problems associated with SAT-3/SAFE was that outgoing bandwidth was significantly more expensive than incoming bandwidth, mainly a consequence of Telkom’s previous monopoly on SAT-3. “The leg from SA to London is priced at a certain level and that is an agreement Telkom has because of its exclusivity rights. However, if the London to SA circuit is priced at ‘x’, then Telkom charges five times that for the half circuit from SA to London,” Neotel CEO Ajay Pandey previously explained.
Good news is that the dependency on any other operator for half-circuits from the South African end has been removed, and this will reduce the overall cost of international bandwidth.
Neotel points out that when SEACOM launches in June this year, it will be the only carrier in the country to offer two independent and similar routes to either Europe or India. This, Neotel says, will allow for guaranteed redundancy and lower latencies.
“Neotel’s already unique Tier 1 IP Transit now has unique resilience and increased capacity,” Neotel concluded.
Neotel SAT3/SAFE access discussion
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