Alcatel-Lucent To Bring Superfast Broadband To Africa Via Submarine Cable

Alcatel-Lucent has managed to acquire a contract for laying a 17,000 km-long submarine cable network linking South Africa to France.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Alcatel-Lucent had signed the contract, worth $500 million, with a consortium of 20 telecom operators to provide the cable network. 

The cable link, which will connect Cape Town in South Africa to Penmarch in France, will be responsible for bringing superfast broadband to the African continent from Europe. 

The company added that the commercial services offered by the cable network will begin in 2012 and will bring broadband connections to the people of Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe for the first time.

Philippe Dumont, the head of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine networking division, said: “This new contract further confirms our commitment to put our newest 40Gbit/s technology at the service of information enablement to ensure that broadband access is economically spread throughout the continent, while improving service reach and stability.”