SUBSEA CONNECTIONS
New Seaborn cable to link SA and the Americas
US-based Seaborn Networks expects to spend up to $140m on the first subsea telecommunications cable to directly link SA and the Americas and is likely to complete the project in mid-2020, says chief operating officer Andy Bax. Seaborn was "co-ordinating with all the different interested parties", including South African telecoms companies and data centre operators, Bax said. The cable will link Cape Town and Brazil, where it will connect with another Seaborn cable that extends from Sao Paulo to New York. It would transfer data between SA and the Americas at speeds "significantly faster" than existing cables, which linked the two regions via Europe and via multiple connection points, Bax said. South African companies Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Broadband Infraco are part-owners of existing subsea cables, including the West African Cable System, which connects SA to Britain — and ultimately the US — via West African nations and Portugal. Bax said Seaborn’s new network would transfer data...
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