The increase in pirate activity during April and May 2009, in terms of intensity and geographical coverage, has necessitated a change in undersea cable system Seacom’s cable installation plans, which has 
resulted in a delay in the ready-for-service date from June 27, 2009 to July 23, 2009.

The planned route requires the ship to transit an area of 
increased pirate activity where other ships have been attacked or seized.

The cable deployment in the troublesome waters has since been completed and splicing to connect the section of cable from Mumbai to Africa is expected 
to take place shortly. 
Testing of the larger cable system will be finalised shortly thereafter. 
The cable spanning South Africa to Kenya, including all South and East African landing stations, has already undergone successful testing.

In the meantime, Seacom is working with its contractor, Tyco Telecommunications, to find ways of accelerating the outstanding works and bring forward the read-for-service date ahead of July 23.

“Owing to sensitivities around piracy issues, their impact on the project timeline was only fully 
established recently and it was imperative that strong measures be put in place to guarantee the successful completion of the cable system and the safety of the ship and its crews,” says Seacom CEO Brian Herlihy.

“This setback should, how-
ever, be seen against the great 
efforts made by the team to see this project come to fruition over an incredibly tight schedule of only 18 months. Seacom remains excited and looks forward to witnessing the immense difference that affordable, high-quality and plentiful bandwidth will have throughout Eastern and Southern Africa,” he adds.

Paradigm Shift
Seacom is set to drive a broadband paradigm shift in South Africa, states Internet supplier 
Internet Solutions (IS). The paradigm in the South African broadband market is changing, with the commercial principles 
behind the Seacom fibre-optic 
undersea cable driving the shift towards a high-speed, high-
capacity Internet connectivity environment.

“Seacom is an important milestone for the local telecommunications industry as it is the first time that South African service providers, other than Telkom, will be able to make a long-term investment in the provisioning of high-speed, high-capacity 
international connectivity,” says IS business solutions director Hillel Shrock.

He adds that, previously, Inter-net service providers (ISPs) had to rely on short-term contracts from a single operator to supply fixed-line capacity to customers, which often did not benefit all levels of the value chain.

“IS took an early view that Seacom was an ideal option to back, as it gives the company the ability to provide its clients with an alternative connection out of South Africa, which also adds an additional level of redundancy 
to its aggregated connectivity service offerings,” says Shrock.

The cable will also land in countries like Kenya and Mozambique, which are key business areas for IS on the continent, resulting in the investment also benefiting its African business substantially.

“IS is an anchor tenant with Seacom and was the first service provider to secure substantial 
capacity with Seacom, after signing an indefeasible long-term contract in July 2007,” says Herlihy.

He adds that by enabling local ISPs, such as IS, to secure long-term investments in Seacom, stakeholders can work together as partners, which will empower 
service providers to deliver greater value and benefits to the broadband market in Southern Africa.

Shrock notes that the initial working relationship IS has 
developed with Seacom over the past two years is a mutually beneficial one. 
The process has been contractually and operationally smooth, with Seacom on track to deliver the cable on schedule, as promised.

“IS will continue to work 
with Seacom once it launches to ensure the company can iron out any teething issues that may occur during the initial phase, so that we can rapidly move forward and deliver a high-speed, high-capacity, world-class service to the market,” Shrock concludes.