Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Starlink to South Africa: ‘We are ready to invest’

      17 June 2025

      Vodacom CEO Joosub bags R71m in pay – but taxman will take a big cut

      17 June 2025

      Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

      17 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      South African AI energy start-up in R32m funding round

      17 June 2025
    • World

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » SA’s giant new sub-sea cable is here

    SA’s giant new sub-sea cable is here

    By Duncan McLeod12 April 2012
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Angus Hay

    The 14 000km West African Cable System (Wacs), the first new sub-sea telecommunications cable along Africa’s west coast since Sat-3 was launched 11 years ago, will be launched officially in about a month’s time.

    Angus Hay, co-chair of the Wacs management committee and chief technology officer at Neotel, says testing of Wacs has progressed well and the system is “essentially ready” for commercial service.

    An official launch function will take place next month at Yzerfontein, the site of the cable’s SA landing north of Cape Town. Commercial traffic should begin flowing across the system at the same time or shortly thereafter, promising to put further downward pressure on broadband prices in SA.

    The cable, which has a design capacity of 5,1Tbit/s and which has cost US$600m (almost R5bn at the current exchange rate) to build, will probably have in the region of 400Gbit/s of capacity “lit” when it becomes available for commercial service — that’s more than the total design capacity of the older Sat-3 cable at 340Gbit/s.

    Hay says the Wacs management committee is in the process of “accepting” the cable from the supplier, Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks. This entails signing off the final contractual agreements. “Final testing is now taking place,” he adds.

    Neotel has been commissioned to run the primary network operating centre, or NOC, for Wacs. The NOC will be based at Neotel’s data centre in Johannesburg.

    A range of companies will provide the backhaul connections from Wacs into national networks. They include Telkom, Neotel and Dark Fibre Africa.

    Hay says testing has progressed smoothly. “We are almost there,” he says.

    Hay can’t comment on how Internet service providers and operators are likely to react in terms of their consumer retail prices when the system becomes available, but he says that, as with other cable systems that have come on stream in recent years, it will improve competition. “It will have beneficial effects downstream.”

    He adds that many service providers have already begun working Wacs into their business models and their future plans and a big step change in pricing, as seen when Seacom went live on the east coast in 2009, is unlikely.

    Wacs is the first of three new cable systems that are expected to serve SA along Africa’s west coast. The France Telecom-led Africa Coast to Europe (Ace) cable, which has the same design capacity as Wacs, is expected to be ready for commercial service within the next year, while SA’s eFive Telecommunications is leading a project to build the South Atlantic Express (SAex) cable between Angola, SA and Fortaleza in Brazil.  — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media



    Ace Angus Hay Dark Fibre Africa eFive Telecommunications Neotel SAex Sat-3 Seacom Telkom Wacs
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleWhy a remote workforce is a bad idea
    Next Article Fibre no threat to Africa’s space birds

    Related Posts

    TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

    16 June 2025

    MVNO boom is reshaping South Africa’s mobile market

    12 June 2025

    Watch | Lunga Siyo on Telkom’s big growth plans

    11 June 2025
    Company News

    Altron: a brand journey, a birthday celebration and a bet on Joburg’s future

    17 June 2025

    7 benefits of social media integration in WordPress

    17 June 2025

    Paratus Zimbabwe and PowerTel strike milestone deal

    17 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.