Latest update: 28 Feb 2010
Right click on this link and choose Save As to download the map in SVG format.
If you’re interested in seeing how these cables are changing access, Stanford University’s PINGer project is monitoring the impact of Seacom and other east coast cables as they come online.
| Seacom | EASSy | TEAMs | WACS | MainOne
|
GLO1 | ACE | |
| Cost (millions of USD)
|
650 | 265 | 130 | 600 | 240 | 150 | ??? |
| Length (km)
|
13,700 | 10,000 | 4,500 | 14,000 | 7,000 | 9,500 | 14,000 |
| Capacity
|
1.28 Tb/s | 1.4 Tb/s | 120 Gb/s – 1.28 Tb/s | 3.84 Tb/s | 1.92 Tb/s | 2.5 Tb/s? | 1.92 Tb/s |
| Completion
|
July 2009 | June 2010 | Sept 2009 | Q2 2011 | Q2 2010 | Q2 2010 | Q2 2012 |
| Ownership
|
USA 25%
SA 50% Kenya 25% |
African
Telecom Operators 90% |
TEAMs (Kenya) 85%
Etisalaat (UAE) 15% |
Telkom
Vodacom MTN Tata (Neotel) Infraco et al |
US Nigeria, AFDB | France
Telecom |
Investor detail:
Seacom (http://www.seacom.mu)
Industrial Promotion Services (25%), an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (USD 75 million)
(Kenya – founded by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV of Pakistan)
VenFin Limited (25%) – USD 75 million)
Herakles Telecom LLC (backed by Blackstone) (25%), New York-based lead company, no website (USD 75 million)
Convergence Partners (12,5%) – USD 37.5 million
Shanduka Group (12.5%) – USD 37.5 million
EASSy (http://www.eassy.org/)
EASSy is 90% African owned although that ownership is underwritten by a substantial investment by Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) including World Bank/IFC, EIB, AfDB, AFD, and DfW. Total DFI investment is apparently $70.7 million, with $18.2 million coming from IFC, 14.5 million from AfDB. This is a smaller amount than the originally advertised $120 million investment from DFIs.
South African investors in EASSY include Telkom South Africa ($18.9 million) , Neotel, and MTN.
There are 26 telco operators in total invested in EASSy.
An SPV created to facilitate. open access will be the biggest shareholder, with 46%.
In Jan 2008, VSNL announced an investment in EASSy
TEAMs
85 per cent of the cable is owned by TEAMs (Kenya) Ltd and the rest by Etisalaat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The TEAMS (Kenya) Ltd holding breaks down as follows:
- 20% – Government of Kenya (through Min. of Finance)
- 20% – Safaricom Ltd
- 20% – Telkom Kenya Ltd
- 10% – Kenya Data Networks Ltd
- 10% – Econet/Essar Telecom Ltd
- 5% – Wananchi Group
- 3.75% – Jamii Telecom Ltd
- 1.25% – Broadband Access/AccessKenya Ltd
- 1.25% – Africa Fibrenet (Uganda) Ltd
- 1.25% – InHand Ltd
- 1.25% – iQuip Ltd
- 1.25% – Flashcom Ltd
West African Cable System (WACS)
- Telkom
- Vodacom
- MTN
- Tata Communications (Neotel)
- Infraco
- Cable & Wireless
- Portugal Telecoms
- Telecom Namibia
- Togo Telecom
- Angola Telecom
- Sotelco (U.S.)
Privately owned. On June 1, 2009, the African Development Bank confirmed USD 66 million financing for the project.
[...] African Undersea Cables « Opening Spectrum Above 275GHz [...]
[...] JUST IN: Steve Song at Many Possibilities just chirped to let me know that Alcatel-Lucent, the company contracted to build out EASSy’s [...]
[...] African Undersea Cables « Digital Native Uprising [...]
[...] African Undersea Cables « The Rationality of Mobile Spending [...]
[...] Many Possibilities – map of the undersea cable environment around Africa [...]
[...] to intended to connect South Africa to the rest of the world. Its obviously the map created, and shared by Steve Song at Many Possibilities under a Creative Commons Attribution [...]
[...] is certainly more to come – using this map, Goldstuck spoke about the many developments that the laying of underwater cables will provide for [...]
[...] African Undersea Cables « Municipal Broadband Investment in South Africa [...]
[...] Song’s been closely following these issues on his blog: “Many [...]
Further announcements on ACE – it looks like you’ll have to update the map again…!!
http://www.francetelecom.com/en_EN/finance/news/cp090609en.jsp
Also some news on developments with EASSy:
http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=12932
Thanks Mike. Well spotted. The ACE news caught me by surprise!
[...] low bandwidth and monopolized. With the advent of WACS and Seacom ( I just heard of these in a Steve Song presentation yesterday), the supply side constraints will ease by 2011. The mobile phone network is [...]
[...] African Undersea Cables « African Women and American Academics [...]
[...] Steve Song has put together a great interactive map that helps you visualize what undersea internet cables go where in Africa. There’s also a helpful table of statistics and data on each of the cables. Head on over to his site and check it out. [...]
The MainOne cable is now being stretched to South Africa as well …
http://www.mainonecable.com/
Hi Miles. Actually I suspect not. While the map on their website still reflects a route all the way to South Africa, recent announcements about AFC/AFDB funding talk specifically about the cable terminating in Lagos. I imagine they are up for going to South Africa if the funding were to appear but with the recent ACE announcement, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Low cost of band with in kenya as The Seacom fibre optic cable landed in Mombasa kenya.
Attend the first even fibre summit in nairobi
[...] Just came across this map outline africa’s undersea internet cables and statistics. Click the link to visit the site [...]
Here is hoping this will improve overall international ping times and speeds. Also lowering costs for decent broadband in South Africa..
Do you have the current update on Glo1? Is Q2 2009 still a date to work with? It’s good to know that infrastucture challenge in African will gradually become a thing of the past. Thanks for the good job.
Globalcom are being deliberately vague but I have heard reference to November 2009 as being a more realistic lighting-up date for GLO-1
Steve
It seems as if the Seacom date has slipped to July now (based on their website – which today says “17 days to go”.
Very disappointing, after such a long wait!!
Also – a cheeky request – please consider adding the terrestrial extensions (fibre) planned for landlocked countries specifically to link to the sub cables (Zambia, Malawi, Uganda etc).
Thanks
Kenya is regarded as one of the most advanced in technology hub in Eastern Africa…We invite people to advice on developing local content..in our upcoming summit in August Nairobi Kenya.
Hi Chris. I am ok with Seacom slipping a few weeks. If they only miss their deadline by 2 or 3 weeks, it will still be a remarkable achievement.
As for terrestrial extensions, I have been trying to crowdsource an African map of terrestrial fibre on Google Maps. Africa Terrestrial Fibre Mapipedia. We have three contributors so far. Looking for more.
Hi Steve.
I took up your request for a collaboration on terrestrial fibre. I have drawn a map of the Lamu Port Project which includes rail, pipeline and fibre-optic networks. I had some problems with labeling the lines. However allow me to clarify.
The green lines are fibre-optic lines to Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. This are planned along with the port project. However in the case of Uganda and Rwanda they will most probably be done separate from the project. The blue lines are rail links to Juba(Sudan), Bangui(Central Africa Republic), Douala(Cameroon). There are branches to Ethiopia and Uganda and Rwanda. The red line is a proposed pipeline to Juba which originates from lamu. The green flame like icons refer to resort cities planned within Kenya and are Lamu, Isiolo and Lokichoggio.
I see you have already added your map of terrestrial fibre which is indeed what inspired me initially. Great work. Lets see whether we can fine-tune it up even more.
Hi Earnest,
When is the fibre summit taking place in nairobi? Date and venue please
Nekosi,
Thanks it will be at Laico regency hotel in September 22nd-23rd, 2009. send me your contact details for more information.
earnestk@aitecafrica.com
[...] Fiber Optic Cables To Africa Posted by xcroc under Africa, computers Leave a Comment Steve Song has created this elegant graphic of the various broadband cables that are under construction to [...]
Hi Steve,
Are you going to add the LION cable to the map?
[...] Because of the arrival of the fat undersea cables. Three independent new cables are starting operations these days: SEACOM, EASSy and TEAMS. Read more about it on this excellent update page at manypossibilities.net [...]
Steve,
Great Stuff!!!! Also could you please consider adding undersea cables for North Africa i.e. Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia if there is one/several.
Hi Paulo. Been searching for a map that actually shows the route of the LION cable. Haven’t been successful so far.
[...] http://manypossibilities.net/african-undersea-cables/ [...]
[...] related to bandwidth, high costs and not enough of it. This should change soon with a number of new cables, but it’s still a challenge currently being [...]
Hi Steve,
Have you seen this post?
https://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/35855?199
Seems like they are missing Seacom, and you are missing Infinity, WAFS and Uhurunet…
I love this post though, keep up the good work!
Iwan
@Iwan. Thanks yes saw that one. It’s good but a little out of date I think. The map is based on my inevitably biased opinion of which cables are likely to come to fruition. IWTGC (Infinity) are not there because I’ve seen no news of them for months and no signs of them having completed their financing. Uhurunet I suspect will drown inter-governmental negotiations and bureaucracy. I thought of including WAFS but chose not to ultimately because it is a regional not international cable and also difficult to represent in an already crowded map space. Perhaps I should re-look at it.
@Liz Working on a version with the Mediterranean cables included.
From what I see the LION cable runs from Toamasina on the East coat of Madagascar to Reunion and then to Maurituis.
http://www.orange.com/fr_FR/groupe/actus/annexes/lion-ace.jsp
Capacity is 1.3Tbps.
It is interesting because it seems like this will be a key link into the next generation cables for the islands, unless the other cable systems are going to have a branch to them.
Thanks Ben. I think you’re right. What was confusing me were references to the cable extending as far as Kenya. You can see a spur for what they intended on this map. I suspect TEAMs et al made that idea much less attractive.
Hi, how will this development (especially WACS), benefit the individual user of internet in Windhoek, Namibia? At the moment, even our 3G is fairly slow.
Hi Johan. It will be important for there to be a competitive local telecom market for Namibia to really enjoy the benefits of access to WACS. Hopefully the ACE cable, which will also land in Namibia, will spur competition.
Hi Steve,
so Seacom’s gone live. I took an an interest in the connection matter after visiting Zambia this june, driving for miles and miles alongside an open ditch – which turned out to be a fiber cable project. This was between Lusaka and Livingstone. After reading up on the subject, I still wonder how they are going to connect it to the marine cable system. Thanks for starting the terrestrial wikimapia!
Looks to me like Zambia might have a better bet joining forces with Botswana to join the marina cable system in Namibia or perhaps to connect to a South-Africa terrestrial cable. Seems to be less km of unlaid cable than the EASSy-agreed route to Dar-Es-Salaam…
Does anyone have any more info on the terrestrial fiber cable system, especially in South Africa ?
Steve, thanks for keeping us informed!
Greets
Maarten
Hi Steve,
According to this message of 17 july 2009 http://www.zedian.co.uk/2009/07/internet-via-optic-fibre-arrives-in_17.html , Zambia has now hooked up to the WACS cable in Namiba via Botswana. I was unable to dig up where the exact cables are, so I couldn’t extend your mapipedia.
greets
Maarten
1. On an earlier version of the cables map, you showed that the EASSy cable (in blue) extended from Mtunzini in South Africa on down to connect with the main trunk of SAFE (which has now been removed). This was a proper link for the map, just that it was not part of EASSy but was part of the SAFE cable.
2. For SEACOM, you include backhaul solution from Marseilles to London but do not include backhaul in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Djibouti, or Johannesburg.
3. SEACOM does not land in Madagascar. There is only a stub that terminates just before Madagascar territorial waters.
Many thanks! Integrating into the next version.
Thanks for putting together this site. I have been putting together a case study of the impacts of the East African Undersea cables. This is available at https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/New+E.+Coast+of+Africa+Fibre My main problem is finding hosts in East Africa that respond to pings and are routed via terrestrial links rather than satellite. Any assistance on such hosts or when we can expect to see them using the new routes would be most intersting.
Hi Les. Thanks for that! Have you tried getting the UbuntuNet Alliance to partner with you on this? I think they would make an ideal partner both in having an interest in the results and in getting the right people on board. Happy to connect you if you like.
Another thought Les. A good PINGer point would be the Durban University of Technology. They are the only university in South Africa to be currently connected to Seacom. All the rest are waiting for the development of the national SANREN backbone, later this year.
Is there any more news, apart what was on the web about the failure of the SAT-3 cable? see a.o. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8176014.stm
Cheers
iwan
[...] sense of timing and project details can be found at the Many Possibilities blog. cable_map18 Sphere: Related Content Categories: Emailed Tags: Alcatel-Lucent, Broadband, [...]
Many Thanks Steve. A very good piece of information.
Do anyone have some news about connectivity offers in linked countries based on Seacom ?
Rob