As a partner in Equiano, WIOCC will land the cable in Lagos, Nigeria, and own a full fibre pair on the 144Tbps, 12 fibre pair system.
“Having invested multiple billions of Rand to enhance our 16Tbps-ready, Optical Transport Network-enabled national hyperscale network infrastructure, we are extremely well positioned to provide businesses with access to fully upgradeable, quickly and easily scalable capacity throughout South Africa and into neighbouring countries, over one of the most future-proof networks in the country,” said Chris Wood, group CEO of WIOCC.
With its own fibre pair on Equiano, WIOCC’s capacity on the system is fully upgradable, with company owning and managing its own Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE).
The company also confirms that its capacity will be extended into a new Open Access Data Centres (OADC) facility currently undergoing fit-out in Rondebosch, Cape Town. The facility will enable clients to interconnect with terrestrial infrastructure providers, cloud networks, partners, suppliers and other ecosystem members.
“Our investment in Equiano continues our long-standing policy of making strategic investments in subsea cables," added Wood.
"We own almost a third of the >10Tbps EASSy system, which extends from South Africa along Africa’s eastern coastline to Djibouti and Port Sudan; we deliver more capacity than any other carrier on the WACS system, which links South Africa to western Europe and lands in many countries along the west coast of Africa; and we are a member of the 2Africa cable, which will bring another high-capacity connectivity option to Africa during 2023/24.”
OADC has recently announced it will have three new core data centres in South Africa – one in Johannesburg and two in Cape Town – due to go live by the end of Q3 2022.
