Alcatel-Lucent Boasts Subsea Deals
PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is to upgrade the EASSy submarine cable system, one of the largest and most modern systems serving Africa, with the deployment of the latest 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) technology.
Alcatel-Lucent‘s 100G technology will enable the system to ultimately carry capacity in excess of 10Tbit/s, further complementing its ability to carry high volumes of data capacity on the EASSy system, which runs 10,000km from South Africa to Sudan, in support of the continued explosion of data traffic in Africa. Alcatel-Lucent will leverage its unmatched experience of deployments around Africa to provide this upgrade within EASSy’s requested timeframe.
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.
Chris Wood, Chairman of the EASSy Management Committee said: “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. This upgrade will add an additional 400Gbps of capacity throughout the system, using Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced coherent 100Gbit/s technology, and enables us to take a further step in offering our customers the ultra-broadband capacity needed for innovative services and applications.”
In a separate release:
HONOLULU, Hawaii --Interchange Limited, a Vanuatu-based company, is expanding its undersea infrastructure with a new cable system spanning more than 3000km that will link the Pacific islands of Vanuatu, the Solomons and Papua New Guinea). The new system will use Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine technology to deliver ultra-broadband access capability, to underpin the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable economic and social growth.
The new system will connect Port Vila, Vanuatu, to Port Moresby, PNG, with branches to Luganville, Vanuatu, and Honiara in the Solomon islands. Initially operating at 40 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) speeds and offering an ultimate design capacity of 1.2 terabit-per-seconds, the system will increase Internet speeds for new and existing service providers to support the deployment of applications for e-healthcare, e-education, Government communications and tourism while further strengthening Vanuatu’s competitive position as an e-business hub.
Simon Fletcher, CEO of Interchange, said: ”Fast and easy connections to everything and all the time is a critical demand whether it comes from video entertainment, cloud-based business applications or access to more basic health care applications from remote areas. With the help of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine technology, this new undersea cable system further help remove the current dependence on satellite and further encourage the introduction of new services and applications affordably available to everyone. Interchange is committed to a better future for Melanesia by offering nation-building telecommunications technologies and infrastructure to communities throughout the entire region.”
