Submarine Cable Project to Be Commissioned

The submarine cable project which is known as the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE Optic Fibre Submarine Cable project will be commissioned in Senegal by the Head of State of that country, Mr Abdoulaye Wade on Monday, May 27, 2002.

The Minister of Communications and Technology, Hon. Felix Owusu-Agyapong, is expected to be there.

Ghana Telecom has invested an amount of USD24 million for the acquisition of capacity in the cable.

The cable constitutes two (2) fibre pairs, which together will be initially capable of transmitting at 10 Gb/s.

It has also been planned to upgrade the cable to 40 Gb/s within the next year.

The project, which involved the laying of fibre optic cable to cover a total length of approximately 14,350 kilometers from Sisimbra (Portugal) to Melbosstrand (South Africa) linking terminal stations in 17 other countries in Africa and Europe is the brainchild of some of the African Telecommunications operators and spearheaded by Telkom South Africa.

This cable was initially planned to route from Dakar, Senegal to Cape Town in South Africa with landing points at Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; Accra, Ghana; Cotonou, Benin; Lagos and Bonny, Nigeria; Duala, Cameroun; Libreville, Gabon; Luanda, Angola and Swakopmund, Namibia.

In the course of discussion for the implementation of this cable project, it was agreed that the cable should be integrated with another submarine cable called South Africa -Far East (SAFE) that was also in its planning stages then.

This SAFE cable was initially planned to connect Cape Town in South Africa with Penang, Malaysia and has the landings in Mtunzini, South Africa; Saint Paul, Reunion; Bale Jacot, Mauritius and Cochin, India.

After several common meetings among the parties of the two cable projects, agreement was reached to merge the two projects and call the resulting project SAT-3/WASC/SAFE Submarine Cable Project.

In order for the cable to have a commercial value and attract the participation of International Carriers it was decided to extend the cable to Sisimbra in Portugal.

This cable initiative will deliver African Solution for Africa, the kind that will see the promise of the African Renaissance being transformed into reality.

Ghana will have direct telecommunication services to majority of African countries enabling intra African traffic to remain within Africa.

The project will see a new light dawning over Africa, as all the role players enjoy the illumination brought about by the information revolution that has already had such a dramatic impact in the West, Europe and Far East.

It will bring the people of Africa the faster, more efficient and affordable communications they need for sustained development and progress.

This project will not only support Africa's growing telecommunications requirements, but also provide a secure and reliable alternate traffic route between Western Europe, Americas and Asia.

The cable will be protected against storms and earthquake - an advantage over Satellite Earth Stations, which are vulnerable to the latter.

The South Africa - Far East (SAFE) and Southern Africa - West Africa (SAT-3/WASC) undersea cable will propel most of Sub-Saharan Africa into the beginning of a new telecommunications millennium.

The project will be able to offer direct, reliable and secure high quality volume broadband communication services and products.

The length of the cable is 28,800 km at a total cost of approximately USD640 million and connected to Ghana Telecom's international switches, which will enable Ghanaians, have access to other countries through the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE.