Tata Communications, which owns a 56% stake in South African fixed-line operator Neotel, on Tuesday announced that the company was an anchor tenant customer for the broadband boosting Seacom cable system.

Seacom and Tata Communications were planning for the system to be ready for service by June 2009.

Tata Communications would operate the landing point in Mumbai, while Neotel would manage the landing point in South Africa, in Mtunzini. As result of this, the company could provide connectivity between the Seacom cable system and the Tata Communications global network, along with Neotel’s converged network in South Africa.

The Seacom deepwater fibre optics cable system would enable Tata Communications to provide fully integrated network services from South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya to its networks in Europe, Asia and India.

Another subsidiary company, Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS), was awarded the network administration, operations and maintenance contract of the cable, supporting 1,28 Tb/s of capacity.

"Through this major infrastructure build-out and our expertise in undersea cable operations, Tata Communications is positioned to provide efficient and experienced management," said Tata Communications global transmission services vice president Byron Clatterbuck.

"As a global service provider, we are able to provide end-to-end solutions in India, Europe and South Africa, as well as onward connectivity to major business destinations in the United States and Asia," he added.

"Prior to the development of this cable system a majority of East Africa relied on small and expensive satellite circuits to meet their international network requirements," said Seacom president Brian Herlihy.

"We are pleased to be collaborating with Tata Communications in our ongoing effort to meet the rapidly increasing demand for increased bandwidth and connectivity throughout this region of the world," he added.

Through Seacom, Tata Communications was able to expand the reach of the Tata Global Network (TGN) to destinations on the East Coast of Africa. Additionally, the Seacom cable system strengthened Tata Communications Internet Protocol and Multi-schedule Private Line services, which were expecting significant growth in the rapidly growing region.

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