Lucas Ajanaku writes that private operators like Globacom and Main One Cable Company are braving the odds to link the country with the rest of the world through the provision of undersea cables that will avail the nation with the desired broadband that will ensure cheap and seamless connectivity

At the twilight of last year, one historical milestone was achieved in Nigeria’s quest for cheap, quick and dependable voice, data, video and internet services. It was the arrival in Lagos, of the first world privately financed undersea cable called Glo 1. The $800 million worth undersea cable was solely financed by Nigeria second national operator, Globacom.

The submarine telecom infrastructure covers 9,800 kilometres between Nigeria and other parts of the global community.
Constructed by Alcatel-Lucent Technologies of France, the telco’s technical partner,  it is believed to be first of its kind in terms of size and funding by any private company any where in the world.

While Glo 1 submarine cable is not the first to land in the country, the first being the South Atlantic (SAT-3) submarine cable owned by Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and 33 other national carriers and multilateral organisations in Africa and elsewhere, it is no doubt a significant development.

With a current capacity of 640 gigabytes per second and final capacity of 2.5 terabits per second, the cable has landing points in the United Kingdom (UK), Portugal, Ghana and Cd’Ivoire.

Executive Director, Human Resources, Globacom, Mr. Adewale Sangowawa, who came to receive the facility said, “This is the first individually owned submarine cable network in the world and Globacom is re-writing history.”

The contract was awarded two years ago to Alcatel Lucent to bridge the much-talked about digital divide and enhance connectivity and bandwidth capacity needs of Nigerians.

Glo 1 submarine cable connects West Africa to the world via a United Kingdom (UK) port, and has landing points in Lagos and Bonny in Nigeria, Bude, in London and Lisbon in Portugal.

Apart from this, it also deploys 16 branching units to connect the West Africa sub-region particularly in Cotonou, (Benin Republic), Accra, (Ghana) and other nations within the region where Glo Mobile operates.

Sangowawa explained at the seaside ceremony that Glo 1 will complement SAT-3 optic fibre cable and fulfil the present and rapidly increasing high data requirement in the West African sub-region.

West Africa currently receives its bandwidth through the existing SAT-3 cable but this has been expensive for users because the controlling consortium, South Africa’s Telkom, has used its monopolistic position to keep prices high. Thus, Glo 1 cable will offer users a high-capacity, low-cost alternative.

Alcatel Lucent will provide one optical Sub Marine Cable Systems (STM-64) network capacity from the UK to New York to link Nigeria to the United States (USA) for crystal clear voice calls and high speed data/Internet transmission services.

The cable, which is of the 32 STM 64 type, has virtual infinite capacity and therefore offers sufficient capacity for traffic for the Globacom’s mobile, fixed and Internet telecommunication services.

According to the telco, the infrastructure has 99.9 per cent up time reliability, world-class long distance voice, video and high-speed data communication services to the African customer.

Glo 1 caters for long-term bandwidth requirements for voice and data transmission in the West Africa sub-region. Currently, West African countries have a high dependability on satellite-based operators for fulfilling their bandwidth requirements. At present, bandwidth providers are retailing bandwidth they procure in bulk, which invariably is very expensive. Glo 1 fills this vacuum and will narrow the digital divide between Nigeria/Africa and the rest of the world.

It provides a cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and rest of the world. It will also carry traffic for other operators that would lease the service.

The Glo 1 project would reshape the face of telecommunications in Nigeria by offering unparalleled services to Nigerians, Sangowawa said.
It further enhances Nigeria’s capacity to provide telephone hubbing services for the rest of the world.

Glo 1 enables Globacom to have a clear distinction in providing quality services through multiple and high quality direct links to various countries across the globe and allows it to interconnect with several international and local networks and leading traffic carriers in the world
Landing points will also be extended to other West Africa countries soon. There will be a total of 18 branching units along the route upon completion of the project, Sangowawa added.

Another undersea cable that promises to redefine communication experience in the country is the Main One undersea cable which Main One Cable Company is constructing. The firm last week announced the commencement of the final laying of its high capacity fibre optic cable from Seixal, Portugal through the coast of West Africa to Ghana and Nigeria.

According to the firm, the cable which goes live in June 2010 is expected to bring the much needed international capacity into a region whose explosive growth in tele-density in recent years has been blighted by sub-optimal global connectivity.
“We are pleased to achieve this major milestone within project timeline. We remain focused on delivering the project on schedule,” said Fola Adeola, chairman of the company.

Main One in November 2009 successfully completed the installation of the shore ends of the cable in Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; and Seixal, Portugal. The commencement of the end-to-end laying of the full stretch of the fiber optic from Portugal signposts the final stages of the ambitious project.

“Now that the 7,000 kilometre trunk of the cable is being installed, we are pleased that our efforts over the last 18 months are coming to fruition,” said Funke Opeke, Main One CEO.

The Main One Cable Company is wholly owned by African investors – African Finance Corporation (AFC), Nigeria; Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund, South Africa; FBN Capital, Nigeria; Skye Bank, Nigeria and Main Street Technologies, Nigeria which is the project sponsor.
In addition to the submarine operations, Main One is building two landing stations in Accra and Lagos which will be complete next month. Equipment installation and end-to-end testing of the cable system will then follow, prior to service launch in June.

The international capacity that Main One is bringing into the West African sub-region will consolidate the explosive growth of telecommunications in the sub-region in recent years. In addition to providing a major boost to Internet access, Main One will help to considerably minimise the difficulties of switching traffic between African countries and eliminate the inconveniences and added costs of first routing traffic to Europe.
Aside the Glo 1 and Main One undersea cables, there are others due to come on stream between now and next year.

One is the West African Cable System (Wacs) which received the green light towards the end of last year when the agreement was signed in Johannesburg by an international consortium of telecommunications operators.

The agreement lays out terms for the construction and maintenance of the R5.5-billion (US$600-million) submarine fibre-optic cable. A supply contract was signed at the same time, which puts the cable well on track for switch-on in February 2011.

Partners in the venture include Angola Telecom, British-owned Cable & Wireless, Telecom Namibia, Portugal Telecom, Congo’s Sotelco, Togo Telecom, and South African companies MTN, Telkom, Vodacom, state-owned Broadband Infraco, and Tata Communications through Neotel.
Like the Main One cable, the new system will operate on the open access principle - that is, any service provider may use the system, which will increase competition between providers, to the ultimate advantage of the end user.

Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, which is Glo 1 technical partner will supply the 14 000km system, including all associated landing points.

Vodacom chair Pieter Uys described the cable as a significant African and global investment that will have ample capacity to serve the region’s international connectivity needs for many years to come.

Running up the west coast of Africa from South Africa to the UK, Wacs will make landfall in Cape Town, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Canary Islands, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde and Portugal before reaching its final destination in the UK. 

Namibia, Congo, Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo have never before been connected to a global submarine network.
A number of other cable systems are due to come into operation within the next few years. The East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy, at 1Tb/s), Sea Cable System (Seacom, at 1.3Tb/s) and the East Africa Marine System (Teams, at 120Gb/s),  all currently in various stages of construction.

It is significant to note that of these, only Glo-1 and Main One will serve West Africa. Seacom and Main One are being built by Tyco Telecommunications, and in addition to Wacs, Alcatel has scooped the tenders for EASSy, Teams and Glo-1.

Wacs is due for completion in 2011, while Main One is due to go live around May 2010 and EASSy one month later. With Seacom, Teams and Glo-1 switching last year, the next few years will see connectivity in Africa soar.

This increased connectivity and competition will result in prices tumbling. Main One will provide open access to 1.92 Terabits per second of capacity to the West African region at prices less than 50 per cent of current wholesale capacity prices. Aaccording to Seacom president Brian Herlihy. “Prices are now already coming down and are set to become a fraction of what they once were.”

Some time in December 2008, France Telecom and its key brand Orange announced the construction of a West African undersea cable named Ace (African coast to Europe) in partnership with 14 other operators. The 12 000km cable will connect Gabon to France via Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain and Portugal. To date not much is known about Ace, but it is also predicted to be operational some time in 2011.

Broadband in Africa, which has not kept pace with the rest of the world, will be revolutionised by the handful of new cable systems, says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of communications research company World Wide Worx. Users will be spoiled for choice, with the combined international bandwidth capacity coming into sub-Saharan Africa increasing by 120 times by the end of 2011.

World Wide Worx says that current international bandwidth stands at a paltry 80Gb/s, but once all the submarine cables are operational it will soar to around 10Tb/s.

“The Wacs agreement puts in place the final spark for the broadband revolution that is about to sweep Africa,” said Goldstuck, adding that the cable systems will lead to further infrastructure development, especially in the business sector, which in turn will bring connectivity to more end users.
Reshaad Sha of Cisco Systems’ Internet Business Solutions commented, “The role that the undersea cable operators will play is crucial to both the developmental and economic agendas that have and are being set by African governments.”

Sha added that the responsibility of delivering the increased bandwidth to users will still rest with service providers and governments.