Alcatel-Lucent to lay submarine cable network in East Africa

March 9, 2007 (PARIS) — Alcatel-Lucent said it has won an order from East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), a consortium of telecoms operators, to lay an optical submarine cable network spanning 10,0000 km and linking eight African countries.

The financial terms of the agreement were not indicated.

The submarine network, due to be completed by the end of 2008, will deliver regional capacity of 320 Gbit per second, Alcatel-Lucent said.

The network will link Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa.

The contract with Alcatel-Lucent followed a competitive tendering process, EASSy said in the same press release.

The EASSy consortium comprises 22 telecoms operators in Eastern and Southern Africa plus certain international carriers.

(AFX)