![\"African](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/African-Undersea-Cables-Map-2014.jpg\")
<\/a>African Undersea Cables Map 2014, from Many Possibilities<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Working our way from the outside in, South Africa is connected to the rest of the world by four undersea fibre optic cable systems.<\/p>\n You can also connect to the Internet using satellite technology, which may circumvent these cables, but for the type of low-cost, low-latency connectivity many people have come to depend on, subsea fibre is critical.<\/p>\n For that reason we\u2019ll only consider the aforementioned undersea cables.<\/p>\n Each of the cable systems that land in South Africa are owned by a consortium of companies, ranging from a relatively small number of stakeholders (Seacom, 5 shareholders), to the 29 shareholders in the EASSy cable.<\/p>\n SAT\u20133, WACS, and EASSy are owned by consortiums of mainly telecommunications companies, while Seacom is independent as its ownership does not include any specific network operator.<\/p>\n Telkom fibre map<\/p><\/div>\n When Seacom launched in South Africa during July 2009, it brought some much-needed competition to South Africa\u2019s international fibre connectivity market and its effects<\/a> were felt almost immediately.<\/p>\n However, there was another significant development in South Africa\u2019s telecommunications sector that has also been credited with helping to bring the cost of communication services down.<\/p>\n In 2008, Altech (and others) took the Minister of Communications to court, arguing that they should be allowed to \u201cself-provision\u201d.<\/p>\n Altech won the case in the end<\/a>, breaking government\u2019s hold on deciding who may and who may not build networks in South Africa. So long as you had the relevant licences from Icasa, you could build your own network.<\/p>\n Despite this freedom, however, there is still little competition in the national backhaul space in South Africa.<\/p>\n Many operators have run short fibre links and even have networks spanning a significant distance, but there are really two big players when it comes to national backhaul in South Africa: Telkom, and Neotel.<\/p>\n FibreCo is a smaller contender worth watching, which\u00a0launched their 2,000km link connecting Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, East London, and Cape Town towards the end of 2013. Internet Solutions, Cell C, and Convergence Partners have a stake in the cable system.<\/p>\n Another national backhaul development to watch is the partnership of MTN, Vodacom, and Neotel on the long-awaited National Long Distance (NLD) network. A portion of the network was lit up<\/a> in February 2013 after 700km of trenching was completed, with the companies aiming to roll out a 5,000km network across South Africa.<\/p>\n It is understood that FibreCo and the NLD consortium have partnered, and together offer a route from Johannesburg to Durban, as well as\u00a0a Johannesburg-Bloemfontein-Cape Town route.<\/p>\n MTN also has\u00a0fibre links to connect the NLD network to the undersea cable landing stations at Mtunzini near Durban, and\u00a0Yzerfontein near Cape Town, offering routes to the WACS, Seacom, and EASSy undersea cables.<\/p>\n Another important link in the networking chain is the Internet exchange.<\/p>\n You can have the biggest network in the country, but if it\u2019s not exchanging traffic with others it\u2019s not part of the Internet.<\/p>\n There are two major Internet exchanges in South Africa, operated by two major players, and hosted by two different companies, as summarised in the table below:<\/p>\nNational backhaul<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Internet Exchanges<\/h3>\n