Telkom Invests in SAT-3/WASC/SAFE Submarine Cable Upgrade

Telkom’s Chief Technology Officer, Alphonzo Samuels, announced that the company has contributed to the fourth upgrade of SAT-3/WASC/SAFE submarine cable system.

“This cable upgrade further addresses the global capacity demands such as fast internet connectivity, data-hungry applications, high-quality video-on-demand and increasing social media usage, thus enhancing customer experience,” said Samuels.

SAT-3/WASC cable system has been upgraded from 420 Gb/s in the northern segments to 920 Gb/s and from 340 Gb/s in the southern segments to 800 Gb/s. SAT-3/WASC is currently operated with full in-system protection and the doubling of the capacity continues to position this cable as one of the leaders on the Sub-Saharan African coastline.

Offering one of the lowest latency routes from Africa to Europe, this SAT-3/WASC upgrade caters for much-needed high-speed connectivity. With sixteen landing points spread between Europe, Africa and Asia, the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cables provide access to global markets and footprint, offering customers seamless and diverse connectivity to the rest of the world.

Telkom’s participation in this initiative further demonstrates commitment to remain customer-centric and cost-effective by working with the renowned submarine cable consortium, thereby being able to offer premium solutions at reduced costs. Furthermore, through its state-of-the art domestic and global infrastructure and highly-skilled personnel, Telkom offers the benefit of peace of mind and quality while taking care of customers’ needs.

Telkom’s extensive experience in the provisioning of submarine cable services in the specialist areas of network administrator, network operations centre and submarine cable procurement and management, has placed the Company at the forefront of the S3WS cable upgrade project. Together with the other consortium members, Telkom has ensured an optimal implementation period that resulted in the upgrade completion in time to meet the ongoing customer desire for increased speed & bandwidth.

Telkom’s direct ownership and investment in EASSy, WACS, EIG, S3WS, SMW3 and Columbus-3 cable systems allows it to package solutions using diverse routes to the rest of the world. Additionally, the Company has three key submarine cable gateways at Mtunzini, Melkbosstrand and Yzerfontein which serves as formidable gateway redundancy in South Africa. With Telkom carriers and retailers have a wide choice of digital connectivity.