SEACOM and Interoute join forces to bring next generation internet to Africa

SEACOM and Interoute join forces to bring next generation internet to Africa

New broadband infrastructure project promises Africa higher quality access to the World Wide Web

Zaventem, 27 July 2010, SEACOM and Interoute, owner operator of Europe’s largest next-generation network, today announced a project that is set to bring a higher quality Internet experience to Africa.  The multi-million Euro project will involve the design, build and operation of eleven International Switching Centres that will accelerate the Internet experience between SEACOM subsea cable to the broadband fibre networks of East and South Africa.

The switching centres known as Points of Presence (PoPs), are destined for Egypt, France, Kenya, Mozambique, the Republic of Djibouti, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.  Each PoP will host Internet caching nodes that will effectively bring the World Wide Web closer to the people and businesses in Africa - where it is needed most.  By storing frequently viewed web content closer to the people who are viewing it, the user web browsing experience is richer and faster.

Gareth Williams, CEO at Interoute, commented: “Africa is not going to the Internet; the Internet is going to Africa.  One year ago, SEACOM brought high capacity, low cost data connectivity to the African continent via the SEACOM subsea cable..  This new project will bring the quality of user experience that is needed to realise the full potential of the Internet as a powerful business, communication and learning tool for the people of Africa.  It’s an exciting time and a wonderful project to be involved with.”

Since the fibre optic SEACOM subsea cable went live in 2009 and the dramatic reduction in Internet costs that followed (prices fell from $4,000 to $22 per megabyte), broadband usage jumped by 733 per cent* in just eight months.  The availability of fast Internet speeds has meant that health workers can get critical data in time to save lives, education is richer through the accessibility of information resources, and businesses can improve their operations by benefiting from technologies hosted in the cloud.

The new PoPs will build resilience into the availability of advanced Internet services.   The new PoPs will provide local routing and data restoration, enabling local network continuity even in the event of an outage or damage to the SEACOM cable.

Brian Herlihy, CEO at SEACOM, comments: “SEACOM’s goal is to provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth. We chose to work with Interoute because it is an expert in network design and build, having built Europe’s largest next-generation network. In our experience, Interoute is an innovative company with willingness to truly partner. We are convinced that this partnership will enable us to continue our evolution as a customer oriented and innovative organisation.

Local Internet Service Providers connecting to the new PoPs will utilise SEACOM in order to deliver high capacity connectivity to local businesses and consumers using WiMAX, WiFi and ADSL technologies.  While Interoute’s managed business services, including connectivity, Virtual Private Networks, security and VoIP solutions will be available through SEACOM.

The building of the PoPs is due to start in August .

*Usage has jumped to 15 gigabytes from 1.8 gigabytes. 15 – 1.8 x 15 = 7.3333 x 100 = 733 % increase

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About SEACOM

SEACOM, the underwater cable project, is privately funded and over three quarter African owned, assists communication carriers in south and east Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks via India and Europe.  The undersea fibre optic cable system will provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth.  SEACOM will be the first cable to provide broadband to countries in east Africa which, at the moment, rely entirely on expensive satellite connections.

Within Africa, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya are inter-connected via a protected ring structure.  Additionally, a second express fibre pair is provided from South Africa to Kenya. These two fibre pairs have a combined capacity of 1280 Gbs.  Express fibre pairs are also provided from Kenya to France into a PoP in Marseilles, with 640Gbs capacity, and from Tanzania to India into the PoP in Mumbai with 640Gbs capacity.  SEACOM has procured fibre capacity from Marseilles to London as part of the SEACOM network. For further information please visit, www.seacom.mu

About Interoute

Interoute is the owner/operator of Europe's most advanced and densely connected voice and data network, encompassing over 55,000 km of lit fibre, 8 Data Centres, 32 purpose-built colocation centres and on-net to another 150 partner Data Centres across the European footprint. Interoute’s full-service next generation network serves international enterprises from a broad range of sectors including aerospace, automotive, finance, pharmaceutical and retail, plus every major European incumbent, as well as the major operators of North America, East and South Asia, governments, universities and research agencies. These organisations find Interoute the ideal partner for hosting content, providing wholesale bandwidth and transit services, corporate connectivity or creating new services. With established operations throughout mainland Europe, in North America and Dubai, Interoute also owns and operates dense city networks throughout Europe's major business centres. Providing service and support in 15 European languages, Interoute is a key part of Europe’s Digital Supply Chain. The network is future-proofed, endowed with Europe’s largest fibre and duct reserve, and is a leader in the deployment of advanced network technologies, from the ground to the Cloud.  www.interoute.com