ASN has started the construction of Africa-1, a subsea telecom system to connect Africa, the Middle East and Europe
Further to the supply contract coming into force, the Africa-1 consortium – currently formed of Etisalat, G42, Mobily, Pakistan Telecommunication Company and Telecom Egypt (with other parties expected to join soon) – and Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) have started the implementation of a new telecommunications optical submarine network.
This 10,000 km cable will provide eight fibre pairs to connect Africa and the Middle East eastward to Pakistan and westward to Europe, increasing the available transmission capacity between Asia and Europe.
The Africa-1 system is expected to be ready for operation by end 2023 and will initially have landings in Kenya, Djibouti, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France. The system will also land in Sudan, cross Egypt through diverse new terrestrial routes on the way to France, and further connect other countries in the Mediterranean such as Algeria, Tunisia and Italy.
The next phase will include additional landings in Yemen and Somalia, as well as an extension from Kenya to South Africa with intermediate landings in Tanzania and Mozambique.
The system will be equipped from day 1 with ASN 1620 Softnode transmission equipment, featuring high performance 200/300/400 Gb/s advanced coherent XWAV line cards.
Alain Biston, president and CEO of Alcatel Submarine Networks, said, “We are proud that the Africa-1 consortium members have chosen ASN, their trusted and experienced partner in the region, to build and to deploy the Africa 1 system, an addition to the global network that will interconnect millions of people and take part in the digital development of the whole region.”
