SAT-3/WASC/SAFE partners and Alcatel-Lucent had doubled the capacity of the SAT-3/WASC undersea cable system.
The main benefit will be to carriers, service providers and multimedia and content providers, which are expanding their networks to support Internet and data center applications.
The fourth upgrade, which was completed in the first half of 2014, further positions SAT-3/WASC as a leading submarine cable facility on the Sub-Saharan African coastline.
The upgraded system operates at 40 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) and with full in-system protection.
Alcatel-Lucent said the SAT-3/WASC cable system was upgraded from 420 Gbit/s to 920 Gbit/s in the northern segments, north of Ghana, and from 340 Gbit/s to 800Gbit/s in the southern segments.
The upgrade enables a sevenfold increase in SAT-3/WASC’s original design capacity through the use of Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced coherent technology.
SAFE provides the shortest route and lowest latency between Southern Africa and Asia with connectivity via South Africa, Mauritius, Reunion, India and Malaysia.
With sixteen landing points spread between Europe, Africa and Asia, the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cables provide access to global markets and footprint, offering to customers seamless and diverse connectivity to the rest of the world.
Philippe Dumont, president of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, said: “This upgrade allows quicker service turn-up to meet customers’ expectations for anytime access to broadband applications, storage and computing.”
