West African undersea cable Main One has gone live two weeks before schedule. The 1,92Gbit/s cable links Nigeria to Portugal, with an additional landing station in Ghana. The Canary Islands, Senegal and the Ivory Coast all have branching systems to the 6 900km cable.
“Today is an historic day for West Africa. The arrival of the Main One cable proves that much good can be done by Africans for Africans. We are pleased to realise the fruit of our dedication and commitment in the past 30 months,” says chairman of Main One Fola Adeola.
This marks the end of the first phase of the cable. The second phase will see the cable reaching down the rest of the West African coastline, extending the cable’s length to 14 000km. The first phase on Main One was built by Tyco Telecommunications, Alcatel-Lucent and Global Marine Systems.
The plan is to extend the cable to Cape Town, probably in 2012, a year after the West African Cable System and the Africa Coast to Europe cable are due to go live. — Staff reporter, TechCentral
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