International fibre bandwidth explosion in South Africa
Submarine fibre cable systems landing in South Africa will help improve Internet capacity in the country while letting the big players behind them get more customers onto their apps or ecosystems.
This is according to BluNOVA CEO Suveer Ramdhani, who said the main aim of big players investing in these submarine cables is to increase their retained profit per subscriber.
MyBroadband asked Ramdhani how two huge new cables — Equiano and 2Africa, respectively backed by Google and Facebook — would impact broadband in South Africa.
Equiano landed in South Africa in August 2022, while 2Africa is scheduled to go live in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“It will absolutely have an impact on Internet capacity,” Ramdhani said.
“Typically companies like Google and Facebook, because they are pursuing increasing the number of subscribers that connect to their global services, they effectively peer away their traffic at peering points.”
“That adds a tremendous amount of supply and capacity at peering points, and the important thing is the peering point is for free,” Ramdhani added.
Ramdhani’s mention of a free peering point is a nod to Teraco’s NAPAfrica Internet exchange points, which offer free peering at its data centres.
He also said that the improved supply and capacity means local Internet providers will have less investment needs to connect globally.
The real reason behind big players investing in submarine cables
The ultimate goal for big players like Google investing in submarine cable systems is to improve their profits by getting more customers to use their products.
“Big players for consumer-facing companies are investing in these cables to facilitate the connectivity of more consumers onto their app or ecosystem to get more [retained profit] per subscriber,” Ramdhani said.
Using Facebook as an example, Ramdhani explained that the company measures the profit it retains per subscriber.
“They have a metric that they use in North America, they use in Europe, they use in Asia, of so many dollars per subscriber per month,” he said.
“So, the reason that they are investing in these cables — and it’s exactly the same mindset with Google — is that, if they can facilitate the connectivity of more consumers onto their Facebook app or towards the Google ecosystem, they have more subscribers.”
As a result of facilitating the connectivity of more consumers, its sponsored ads and other revenue-generating products reach more people, increasing the profit it retains per customer.
“That’s the heart of the business,” Ramdhani said.
This has a knock-on benefit of increasing international bandwidth supply and capacity for local companies.
Ramdhani said he does not expect any other significant cables to be announced soon, adding that there’s typically a five-year cycle to launching new cables.
“So people will start talking about a new cable five years after those two [the 2Africa and Equiano] cables land.”
All the undersea cables landing in South Africa and brief details about each are listed below. All maps are sourced from the Submarine Cable Map provided by TeleGeography.
2Africa
The 2Africa submarine cable will span a length of 45,000km, almost encircling the continent of Africa entirely. It is scheduled to launch in 2023.
Major investors in the cable system are China Mobile, MTN, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), Orange, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company.
Equiano
The Equiano submarine cable system’s scheduled launch date is in the fourth quarter of 2022, and Google is the sole owner of the system. Its supplier is Alcatel Submarine Networks.
Equiano’s landing point in South Africa is Melkbosstrand, near Cape Town, operated by Telkom’s wholesale and networks division Openserve.
EASSy
The Eastern African Submarine System (EASSy) cable went live in July 2010 and spans 10,500km from Sudan’s coastline to Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal.
Nineteen companies have invested in the cable, including Liquid Intelligent Technologies (formerly Neotel), MTN, Telkom South Africa, and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company.
METISS
The Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS) cable was ready for service in March 2021. It is one of the smaller cable systems listed, spanning 3,200km from Mauritius to Umbogintwini, KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa.
Investors in the cable system include Canal+ Telecom, Emtel, Telecom Malagasy, and CEB FibreNET.
SAT-3/WASC
The South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) system was launched in April 2002, and it spans 14,350km from Sesimbra, Portugal, to Melkbosstrand in South Africa.
It has 34 investors, including AT&T, China Telecom, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom South Africa, and Vodafone.
SAFE
Sister cable to SAT-3, the South Africa Far East (SAFE) submarine cable runs 13,500km from Penang, Malaysia, to Melkbosstrand in South Africa’s Western Cape province and has been in operation since April 2002.
It has 29 investors, including AT&T, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Orange, T-Mobile, Telkom South Africa, and Vodafone.
ACE
The Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system spans 17,000km from Penmarch, France, along the west coast of Africa, to Duynefontein, in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
A total of 20 entities, including MTN, Orange, the Republic of Cameroon, and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, have invested in the cable system. The last segment of the cable — linking Europe, West Africa and South Africa — went live in June 2021.
West Africa Cable System (WACS)
The West Africa Cable System (WACS) went live in May 2012, and it runs 14,520km from Seixal, Portugal, to Yzerfontein in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
There is a total of 18 companies, including Broadband Infraco, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, MTN, Telkom South Africa, and Vodafone, that have invested in the cable,
Seacom/Tata TGN-Eurasia
The Seacom/Tata TGN-Eurasia submarine cable system went live in July 2009, spanning 15,000km. At the time of its launch, it was solely owned by Seacom and ran from Zafarana, Egypt, to Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Seacom struck a deal with Tata Communications in 2020, which it said extended its reach to offer high-speed, reliable pathways between Africa, Europe and Asia.
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