Bharti, 15 others launch undersea cable to connect Africa

Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel today said an international consortium, of which it is a part along with some global telcos, has launched an undersea cable that connects the African continent with rest of the World.

The 10,000 kilometer submarine undersea system -- EASSy cable -- has investments of around $263 million and will connect Mtunzini in South Africa to Port Sudan in Sudan, with landing points in nine countries, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

"This cable system is expected to prove a boon in proliferation of broadband connectivity to all parts of Africa, promoting e-commerce, Internet, and other broadband applications," said Bharti, which recently acquired the African assets of Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain.

The cable link will also safeguard and ensure all time connectivity of East African countries with the world, Bharti said.

"The commencement of EASSy cable system is a significant step in our journey to create a robust undersea cable infrastructure for our customers," it added.

Besides Bharti, the consortium includes 16 telecom firms including British Telecom, Etisalat, Saudi Telecom, MTN and Telkom South Africa.

The cable's landing points include Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), Mombasa (Kenya), Dar-easalaam (Tanzania), Moroni (Comoros Islands), Toliary (Madagascar) and Maputo (Mozambique).

Bharti, at present owns the i2i submarine cable system and is a partner in other global undersea cable systems like Unity, SEA-ME-WE 4, EIG, I-ME-We and AAG.