About 10 000-km of the 15 000-km Seacom fibre-optics undersea cable, set to run along the East coast of Africa, has been manufactured in the US and Japan, and project contractors Tyco Communications would begin shipping terrestrial equipment this month, with the cable expected to be loaded on the first ship in September.

Seacom on Thursday also reported that laying of shore-end cables for each of the landing stations would also proceed from September. This process would include the cable portions at shallow depths ranging from 15 m to 50 m where large vessels did not operate.

“We are very happy with the progress made over the past five months. Our manufacturing and deployment schedule is on target and we are confident that we will meet our delivery promises in what is today an incredibly tight market underpinned by sky rocketing demand for new cables and resulting in worldwide delivery delays,” said Seacom president Brian Herlihy.

The Seacom cable has been structured to meet the policy objectives of governments and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, and would be the first to launch services with a planned ready for service date of June 2009.

The cable’s two fibre pairs would have a capacity of 1,28 terabits a second, to enable high-definition television (TV), peer to peer networks, Internet protocol TV, and surging Internet demand on the African continent, as well as lower prices. Once completed it would connect Southern and East Africa with Europe and South Asia.

From October 2008, the first of three Reliance Class vessels would start laying the actual cable. The final splicing, which involves connecting all cable sections together, will happen in April 2009, allowing enough time for the testing of the system before the commercial launch in June.

The company indicated that the final steps of the environmental social impact assessment process were advanced and all archaeological, marine and ecological studies, which required scuba diving analysis, were completed, as well as social consultations with the affected parties.

The cable, including repeaters needed to amplify the signal, will be stored in large tanks on board the ships. The branching units necessary to divert the cable to the planned landing stations would be connected into the cable path on the ship shortly before deployment into the sea. The cable would then be buried under the ocean bed with the help of a plough along the best possible route as shown by the marine survey.

The cable is planned for service before the 2010 FIFA World Cup kick-off and Seacom said it has been working with key broadcasters to meet their broadband requirements. The team was also trying to speed up construction in an attempt to assist with the broadcasting requirements of the FIFA Confederations Cup scheduled for June 2009.

The undersea fibre-optics cable system would provide African retail carriers with access to cheaper bandwidth, remove the international infrastructure bottleneck, and support East and Southern African economic growth. Broadband to countries in East Africa currently relies entirely on more expensive satellite connections.

Seacom is privately funded and over three-quarter African owned, and would assist communication carriers in South and East Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks through India and Europe.