Google's big undersea internet cable arrives in South Africa

Source: Google Cloud

The Equiano cable connects Europe to Africa’s western coast via a landing station in Lisbon, Portugal, and has nearly ten times the West Africa Cable System’s capacity at 144 Tbps.

This private undersea cable will be the first submarine cable to incorporate optical switching at the fibre-pair level as opposed to the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching.

Wiocc Group CEO Chris Wood commented: “Having invested multiple billions of Rand to enhance our 16Tbps-ready, Optical Transport Network-enabled national hyperscale network infrastructure, we are extremely well positioned to provide businesses with access to fully upgradeable, quickly and easily scalable capacity throughout South Africa and into neighbouring countries, over one of the most future-proof networks in the country.”

As a fibre pair owner, Wiocc's Equiano capacity is upgradable fully under its own control. WIOCC owns and manages its own Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE), choosing to light and upgrade its capacity exactly as it wishes to meet the needs and demands of its clients.

Wiocc's Equiano capacity will be extended into a new Open Access Data Centres facility currently undergoing fit-out in Rondebosch, Cape Town, where clients can interconnect with terrestrial infrastructure providers, cloud networks, partners, suppliers and other ecosystem members.