SEACOM lays first lengths of African subsea cable

The laying has started of a fast fibre-optic international telecommunications cable link that could be east Africa's first, the owners of the venture said on Wednesday.

The Mauritius-registered private equity project known as SEACOM is investing in a fibre optic cable linking east and southern Africa to Europe and Asia. Its launch is scheduled for June.

"We are delighted to have actual cable in the water and the countdown to June has begun," said Brian Herlihy, SEACOM President, in a statement.

The first lengths of cable are already on the seabed of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

"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," SEACOM added.

A third ship is currently being loaded with another portion of the deepwater cable to be laid from India towards Africa, where the three cable segments will join up.

The 15,000 km cable will wind around the east of the continent between South Africa and Egypt, then on to Mumbai in India and Marseille in France.

Investors in the $650 million venture include an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Venfin Ltd, and Herakles Telecom LLC, each with stakes ranging between 23.75 percent and 26.25 percent.

Shanduka Group and Convergence Partners each has a 12.5 percent shareholding.

SEACOM said a landing station in Kenya will be complete this month, followed by another two in Tanzania and South Africa by April.

The cable will provide 1.28 terabits per second of broadband capacity to enable high definition TV and provide bandwidth.

Another two fibre optic cable projects, Kenya's The East African Marine System and the East Africa Submarine System, are also in development.