High-speed connectivity on the cards for Seychelles

The new system could provide the Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, with high-speed direct access to the world's optical fibre backbone. The SEAS will span over 1,900km offering international connectivity in support of affordable internet access and new broadband applications for commerce, government services, e-health for improved quality of life.

Alternative to satellite connections

"This new connection will provide faster internet and improved access to telecommunications, providing a cost-effective reliable solution that will give us an alternative to satellite connections, which we are almost completely dependent on now," said Benjamin Choppy, principal secretary, Department of ICT in the vice president's office.

Additionally, Africa has historically been the least connected but in the past year it has made significant strides in rectifying this. With deployments completed, ongoing and new projects launched, the number of submarine cable networks will increase by a factor of five by the end of 2012 compared to 2000, with some of them already in service such as EASSy, bringing the total capacity available to 20.2Tbit/s (terabits per second) from the 0.2Tbit/s in 2000, as well as increase the number of landing points from 16 to 76 over the same reference period, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

"As the penetration of internet access in the African continent continues to gain momentum there is tremendous opportunity to offer new applications that can benefit every sector of society," said Philippe Dumont, president of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks SAS.