Telecom Lead Africa: Alcatel-Lucent has signed a submarine deal with West Africa Cable System (WACS) consortium.
The submarine cable contract is for the maintenance of more than 9 000km of the WACS system linking South Africa to Portugal.
Since May 2012 WACS interconnects 13 African countries, offering superior broadband capacity in Africa and enhancing international connectivity.
Alcatel-Lucent claims it currently maintains over 300 000km of critical submarine cable infrastructure worldwide.
As per the new agreement, WACS will join the Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA), allowing the consortium to access Alcatel-Lucent’s maintenance vessels, as well as experienced, fully trained and certified specialist personnel for cable repairs.
The WACS infrastructure delivers high-speed bandwidth of more than five terabits per second. In addition, it contributes to opening up broadband in Africa, lowering the cost of access and allowing the delivery of applications such as e-education and e-health.
Philippe Dumont, president of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, said: “With the recent establishment of our depot in Cape Verde, we are able to offer the shortest possible mobilization time for any repair operations off West Africa.”
