Seacom braces for marine fibre

Elias Biryabarema - Kampala - 25/02/2009

Seacom, a Mauritius based company plans to commission its marine fibre optic cable currently being laid in the Indian ocean, re-igniting hope that the region is about to hook onto high-speed internet.

In an interview with Allafrica.com, Mr Brian Herlihy, Seacom’s president, said construction of the cable had begun at three locations and that the current tempo would be maintained up to when the broadband service is commissioned in July, this year.

“There are three cable segments that are currently underway. One is making its way from the edge of South African waters north to Mozambique. Another is motoring to the coast of Yemen from the Red Sea coast of Egypt,” he said.

He said the third one is a ship loaded with Seacom’s deepwater cable that will go from India towards Africa.

Seacom is the most advanced of all the broadband cable projects in the east and southern African region.