It said the WACS cable, which was expected to go commercial in early 2012, had 15 terminal stations along route and was the first ultra high capacity submarine cable system deploying next generation technology to connect Ghana (West Africa) to Europe northward and southbound connecting along the continental coast terminating in South Africa.
It said in a statement that following this feat, millions of MTN subscribers across the continent were getting closer to receiving a broadband windfall upon completion of the project.
Spanning a distance of over 14,500 kilometrs, WACS employs next generation technology to produce a minimum design capacity of 5.12 terabits per second (Tbps).
"It also enables seamless connectivity between countries in Southern and West Africa, with the rest of Europe, America and the East."
The statement said MTN’s investment in WACS formed part of its ownership in a network of submarine cables in which it had invested in an attempt to bring the much-needed broadband capacity to the continent.
"MTN is committed to support in bolstering Africa’s efforts in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals aimed at bridging the digital divide by providing millions of its footprint across Africa with the capacity to use smart telecommunications solutions to foster the enrichment of people’s lives.
Michael Ikpoki, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, said: “It is now time for Africa, and for that matter Ghana, to leverage the growth prospects of this fast growing industry to help speed up her socio-economic development, exploring the vast opportunities that broadband brings; be it high-speed connection to the Internet, telemedicine, video conferencing and several others.
“The provision of cost effective access to broadband is taking an increasingly important role within MTN and we have positioned ourselves strategically to provide world class services to all our valued customers.”
The statement said the initial equipped capacity of WACS shall be over 500 Gbps and is upgradable at any stage of the system’s 25-year long design life span.
"WACS will open access for faster connectivity to support innovative IP-based services such as video applications for e-education, e-commerce and healthcare (telemedicine).
"It will further reduce the digital divide, enabling the landing countries to be served with a new system which will offer greater capacity and eventually lower the cost of broadband access. With commercial service expected in 2012, this new submarine cable system will also offer route diversity along with high bandwidth availability."
MTN is the single biggest investor in WACS, with an investment of over $90 million. The total project cost will not exceed $650 million.
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Quelle/Source: Panapress, 14.05.2011
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