SA-Brazil private submarine cable ready by 2014

Mybroadband.co.za reports that the first submarine cable system linking Africa to South America is a private submarine cable system of approximately 10,000km in length, led by South Africa's eFive and GlobeNet from Brazil.

eFive Telecoms CEO Rosalind Thomas said that the planned $320-million submarine cable connecting South Africa and Brazil will be live within two years. Additional branching units in East London and Port Elizabeth are also expected to be operational for future landings in South Africa during Q2 2014.

The 7,400km cable system will connect "Mthunzini on the east coast, via East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town to Fortaleza in Brazil", Thomas told the Business Times, adding that the connection between Port Elizabeth and East London "will be helped as currently the connections are largely terrestrial." According to Mybroadband.co.za, when completed, the SA-Brazil cable will be the fifth major submarine cable system to go live in South Africa. Experts have questioned the business case for a fifth international cable system, since existing systems have abundant unused capacity available for future use while, at the same time, availability of national infrastructure lags way behind.

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