Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade 10,000 km-long submarine cable system

Alcatel-Lucent has been engaged to upgrade the EASSy submarine fibre-optic cable system along the eastern and southern coasts of Africa with the latest 100 Gbps technology. The EASSy system is one of the largest and most modern systems serving Africa.

Alcatel-Lucent’s 100G technology will enable the system to ultimately carry capacity in excess of 10 Tbps, further complementing its ability to carry high volumes of data capacity on the EASSy system, which runs 10,000 km from South Africa to Sudan, in support of the continued explosion of data traffic in Africa. The company will leverage its experience of deployments around Africa to provide this upgrade within EASSy’s requested time frame.

EASSy is owned and operated by a group of 17 African and international shareholders - all telecommunications operators and service providers. The system is implemented in a protected ring configuration linking eight countries from Sudan to South Africa, via Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Comores and Mozambique. Landings are located in Port Sudan, Djibouti (Djibouti), Mombasa (Kenya), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Moroni (Comores), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mtunzini (South Africa). The system also addresses a wide range of international destinations through interconnection with multiple international submarine cable networks for diverse, seamless onward connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia.

“Since EASSy entered service in 2010, we have seen enormous growth in demand for capacity on the system, reflecting the service quality and reliability that we have been able to offer,” said Chris Wood, chairman of the EASSy Management Committee.

“This upgrade will add an additional 400 Gbps of capacity throughout the system, using Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced coherent 100 Gbps technology, and enables us to take a further step in offering our customers the ultrabroadband capacity needed for innovative services and applications.”