In 2007 we brought you the news that Neotel, South Africa’s second national operator had signed a contract with SEACOM to land a new sea cable in South Africa by 2009.

Well the good news is that the cable is almost here, according to SEACOM “From June 2009, southern and eastern Africa will finally get truly connected to international broadband networks.”

“Telecoms prices are expected to drop by as much as 90percent by June when major cable networks open up direct broad- band connectivity to Europe, Asia and the US.

The cable has been laid from the edge of the South African waters to Mozambique and cable laying is also proceeding in the Red Sea from Egypt towards the coast of Yemen.

A third ship is currently being loaded with the remainder of SEACOM’s deepwater cable which will be deployed from India towards Africa, where these three cable segments will be joined. ” this according to mybroadband.co.za

The cable which will connect South Africa to Europe and India, will also land in Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and UAE.

With a capacity of 1.28 Tbps this cable will bring much needed bandwidth relief to Africa.

We look forward to June with anticipation, bring on faster and cheaper bandwidth for all

Tags: asia, broadband, Europe, fring, june 2009, kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, SEACOM, South Africa, tanzania, UAE, US