Tata Comm partners in $600 mn African cable deal

Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group announced its participation in the $600 million, new West African Cable System (WACS). This investment will further boost Tata Communications’ global reach and enhance the company’s investments in the region.
 
A multinational consortium of leading telecommunications operators recently signed a Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and Supply Contract for the implementation of the West Africa Cable System (WACS).
 
WACS is a submarine fibre optic cable that will link countries in Southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with at least 3.84 terabits per second of international bandwidth.
The planned landing points include South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The landings in Namibia, the DRC, the Republic of Congo and Togo will provide the first direct connections for these countries to the global submarine cable network.
 
Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks has been contracted to supply the 14,000 km long cable system with all associated landing points, which is expected to be ready for service by 2011.
 
Byron Clatterbuck, Senior Vice President—Global Transmission Services at Tata Communications said, “We are very pleased to be participating in the West Africa Cable System. The investment is another step for Tata Communications in bolstering its capabilities in the African market, and will enhance our service propositions together with our partner Neotel in bringing added diversity into South Africa.” 

Costing about $600 million, the project has brought together a multitude of nations and some of the world's most influential telecommunications players in a joint effort to use state-of-the-art technology in linking more people more efficiently than ever before.
 
WACS represents a significant telecommunications infrastructure investment through a joint effort of a number of African and Global operators and will have ample capacity to serve the region’s international connectivity needs for many years to come.
 
The telecommunications companies that have signed the WACS Construction and Maintenance Agreement include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Tata Communications, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.
 
WACS will provide Africa with faster and better connectivity to Europe and the world at far cheaper rates; savings which will be passed onto consumers.