It has been a busy year in the world of African undersea cables as the timeline below of cable maps over the last year will attest. A lot has happened or more accurately plans and announcements for a lot have happened.
In this update, I have corrected a lot of information about the MainOne cable. Here are the key changes:
- The capacity of the MainOne cable will be 1.92 terabits, making it the second-largest planned cable in the region next to the WACS initiative, who in typical telco fashion have released no information about their plans after the initial press release
- The number of landing points is flexible. I note that Libreville, Bonny, and Abidjan are not on their current map. My impression is that the business model for the cable is focused on Ghana and Nigeria with other countries being additional bonuses. Given the uncertainty of regulatory regimes and business climates this makes sense.
MainOne were able to share other information about the cable as well.
- Phase One of the cable development will link Accra and Lagos to their landing point in Portugal where they have negotiated onward connectivity with Tata Communications. They are offering full circuits from Accra or Lagos to Telehouse in London.
- Phase One is scheduled to be completed by Q2 2010.
- Their focus is on wholesale bandwidth. Minimum purchase is an STM-1 (155 mbps) via an IRU.
It is a pleasure to see such straightforward information being provided on request. Both Seacom and MainOne are a step ahead of other cable initiatives in this region in being forthcoming about their progress. They were even able to communicate some basic pricing information. All prices are in US dollars.
| MainOne | O&M – 15yrs* | Total Cost | Annual Cost per STM1 | Monthly Cost per STM1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STM-1 | 4,800,000 | 3,320,336 | 8,120,336 | 541,356 | 45,113 |
| STM-4 | 13,200,000 | 9,130,924 | 22,330,924 | 372,182 | 31,015 |
* Operation and Maintenance. Note that IRUs are being sold on a 15 year basis for MainOne in contrast to the 20 year period by Seacom.
[...] un post en date du 11 février 2009, ce blog sud-africain propose différentes cartes retraçant [...]
By change, will we soon see the fiber reaching Congo DRC?
Steve, please also note that the TEAMs cable capacity is 1.28Terabits
@Brian. Thanks! Quite a change from its initial proposed capacity of 40Gbps. Has TEAMs announced a go live date for their cable?
Today TEAMS held a signing ceremony – where the various investors signed the Shareholders Agreement, Share Subscription Agreement and Capacity Agreement – The ship that lays cable sets sail on the 23rd of March and should be 30 days in water to Nairobi so the cable should have landed by end-April, early May. Full service is expected in June after technical and production tests have been concluded.
Are there any prcing available for GLO-1 STM-1 and STM-4 from Lagos to London? By now MainOne prices should have come down drastically considering WACS coming next year?
Hi Karel, I haven’t seen published pricing for Glo-1. You’d have to contact them for a specific quotation. AFAIK neither MainOne nor Glo1 is actually lit and delivering services yet.
Hello, do you have an idea on when Congo DRC will be conencted? Thx.