EASSy bandwidth sales exceed forecasts
The WIOCC (West Indian Ocean Cable Company) today announced that capacity sales on EASSy (East African Submarine System) have outstripped initial forecasts since the system went live in July 2010.
Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC, the largest shareholder in the EASSy system, expects sales will continue to forge ahead in 2011 – with significant growth from the key international financial and commercial centres.
EASSy, which connects southern and eastern Africa to key international financial and commercial centres via its 3.84Tbps, 10,000 km submarine cable system on the East Coast of Africa, is in direct competition with SEACOM which was launched in August 2009.
SEACOM was dogged with problems and downtime during 2010, which may have prompted many service providers to purchase capacity on EASSy, a system which has not experienced any downtime since launch.
EASSy capacity doubled
In December 2010 the WIOCC announced that EASSy will be upgraded in 2011, more than doubling the 30Gbps of capacity currently equipped on the system.
This increase in lit capacity will be achieved by utilising the latest 40Gbps wavelength technology.
The WIOCC points out that new fibre-optic cables which will be deployed around Africa in the next two years will boost capacity to 20Tbps, giving the continent access to more than twice the data and voice-carrying capacity currently equipped between the US and Europe.
This additional capacity will come in handy for many operators which are boosting their international capacity after significant price reductions of international bandwidth.
According to the WOICC the international bandwidth costs have fallen by more than 50 per cent over the past 16 months, mainly due to the development and launch of EASSy.
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