JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: Tata Communications, a provider of new world of communications, invests in the $600 million, new West African Cable System (WACS).

A multinational consortium of leading telecommunications operators recently signed a Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and Supply Contract for the implementation of the WACS.

WACS is a submarine fibre optic cable that will link countries in Southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with at least 3.84 terabits per second of international bandwidth. The planned landing points include South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The landings in Namibia, the DRC, the Republic of Congo and Togo will provide the first direct connections for these countries to the global submarine cable network.

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks has been contracted to supply the 14,000 km long cable system and is expected to be ready for service by 2011.

The telecommunications companies that have signed the WACS Construction and Maintenance Agreement include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Tata
Communications, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.

Byron Clatterbuck, senior vice president-Global, Transmission Services, Tata Communications, said: "The investment is another step for Tata Communications in bolstering its capabilities in the African market, and will enhance our service propositions together with our partner Neotel in bringing added diversity into South Africa."