Undersea Cable to Boost Communications in Africa

Regions of Africa will be soon able to experience broadband Internet for the very first time, with the completion of undersea cable deployment in June this year, according to Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert). The deployment of undersea cable will give a boost to Internet as well as telecommunications in the continent, thereby decreasing the digital divide.


Africa to date has a severe lack of telecommunications connectivity, mainly because of insufficient infrastructure. Broadband penetration has been low across the African continent, with access being limited to urban areas.

In 2008, the African cell-phone sector grew by 41 percent and it was cell phones that accounted for 90 percent of telephone subscribers in Africa. One of the reasons for the high growth rate of mobile subscribers is the lack of affordable, efficient fixed line infrastructure. This discourages service providers to implement their broadband services. With the deployment of undersea cables, the African telecommunications industry is going to improve.

"The African continent has waited with bated breath for the landing of various undersea cables," said Lindsey Mc Donald, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, in a release. "The introduction of increased bandwidth to the continent is a significant milestone for the telecommunications industry and promises to see the delivery of new services such as the delivery of virtualization and software as a service."

The ICT Group at Frost & Sullivan will host an online analyst briefing/ presentation on May 13 which will provide decision makers a comprehensive overview of the anticipated impact of the undersea cables on Africa's information and communications industries.

Some of the presentation’s highlights include details on when the cables are expected to land and what level of service provision they will facilitate, as well as outlining the manner in which access to the cables can be achieved. Corporate attendees of the briefing will benefit from the insights into which services are likely to become a reality on the African continent once the cables come into operation, said the company.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the presentation will be of particular interest to IT service providers and smaller telecommunications operators as well as senior management in the ICT industry.