Communication solutions provider Alcatel-Lucent has been awarded two contracts for marine maintenance services on portions of the West Africa Cable System (Wacs) and the Africa Coast to Europe (Ace) submarine cables, both of which link Africa to Europe.

The NYSE-listed company said it had signed a contract with the Wacs consortium, which would see it maintaining 9 000 km of the Wacs submarine cable, which connects 13 African countries with Europe.

Delivering high-speed bandwidth of over 5 TB/s, the Wacs infrastructure provides open access to regional telecoms operators and Internet service providers, as well as ingratiating broadband in Africa and lowering the cost of access to the Internet.

Under the agreement, Wacs would join the Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (Apma), allowing the consortium to access Alcatel-Lucent’s maintenance vessels, as well as certified specialist personnel for cable repairs.

Wacs management committee chairperson Dr Angus Hay said that, with the start of its commercial service, Wacs was providing economic impetus to African economies along its cable route.

“This makes it even more critical to ensure optimal network availability and quality of service. Alcatel-Lucent’s technical support and capabilities, including state-of-the-art cable ships, will further enhance the reliability that our low-latency system delivers to meet the performance and stability required,” he commented.

Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent simultaneously announced the signing of an agreement with the Ace consortium for the maintenance of over 6 300 km of the Ace system, which links 15 African States to the European continent.

The agreement would also see Ace joining the Apma.

Ace spans 17 000 km, linking South Africa to France through Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Spain and Portugal.

With an ultimate design capacity of just over 5 TB/s, Ace provides a high-speed data network that cost-effectively supports broadband services.

Alcatel-Lucent was currently maintaining over 300 000 km of critical submarine cable infrastructure worldwide.