The African leg of a new submarine telecommunications system that will serve markets in the North and South Atlantic will be ready for service in the first quarter of 2014. The cable will offer high-speed global connectivity to SA, Angola and Nigeria.

That’s the word from the Wasace Cable Company, which is building the multibillion-dollar Wasace system. The company said on Wednesday that it had begun the procurement process to select a system supplier for the cable’s construction.

An invitation to tender has been sent to four potential suppliers and Wasace expects to select the successful bidder in July 2012. The company has retained two financial services companies, including Aterios Capital, as financial advisors to source funding for the project.

Wasace-map-640 — Map courtesy of the Wasace Cable Company

International telecoms constulting firm, the David Ross Group, is administering the procurement process and leading the development of the project.

The 40Tbit/s cable will connect SA, Angola and Nigeria to the US, as well as to markets in South America and Europe, using the latest “100G” fibre-optic technology. The system will consist of three parts:

Wasace Americas, connecting Brazil (Santos, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza) to the US via a landing station in Florida, with “optional, on-demand connectivity to Colombia, Panama and the US state of South Carolina.
Wasace Africa, connecting SA and Nigeria to the US with optional and on-demand connectivity to the Niger Delta at Bonny Island and to Angola.
Wasace Europe, connecting Florida to Virginia Beach and across the North Atlantic to San Sebastian in Spain.

The Wasace Cable Company plans to develop the network in phases, beginning with the Americas and Africa segments, which are scheduled to be in service by early 2014 — if that deadline is met, it will be ahead of the newly announced Brics Cable, which will follow some of the same route at Wasace.