Teraco, Africa’s largest provider of interconnected data centre platforms, is now an integral connectivity and interconnection point for Google’s Equiano cable, building essential cross-border links.
The Equiano cable starts in Western Europe and runs along the West Coast of Africa in the fastest direct route between Lisbon in Portugal and Cape Town in South Africa, with branching units along the way that can be used to extend connectivity to additional African countries, empowering Africa’s digital transformation.
Equiano subsea cable
Named after Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy, the Equiano cable is state-of-the-art robust infrastructure based on space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology, with approximately 20 times more network capacity than the existing cables connecting Europe and South Africa.
The Equiano cable going from Portugal to South Africa lands in Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town, and is backhauled via Equiano landing station technology partners including Liquid Telecom, Telkom’s Openserve, and WIOCC to Teraco’s data centre campus in Cape Town, South Africa. Teraco’s CT1 and CT2 are strategic interconnection hubs on the African subsea cable map, with access to Equiano and the cable landing station of SAT3/SAFE, ACE and WACS that are already accessible from the facility.
CT1 and CT2 are connected to the JB1 Campus in Isando, Johannesburg, through a wide choice of carriers via diverse regional fibre routes and private line services. The exceptional digital infrastructure of the Equiano cable will enable clients in the entire African region to increase the number of partners they connect to and expand their reach into new markets. Teraco’s Cape Town facilities offer clients secure colocation and interconnection services, and the ability to leverage Teraco’s digital hubs in Cape Town and Johannesburg directly.
“The Equiano subsea cable represents a new era of digital transformation. The extensive terrestrial fibre network will be available from all Teraco data centre facilities, is a significant addition to Platform Teraco’s existing ecosystem of over 300 networks, 130 IT service providers, 50 global content providers, and the key global cloud providers,” says Michele McCann, Head of Platforms at Teraco.
New cable connecting West Africa
The availability of a new cable servicing the west coast of Africa, and branching into previously unserved countries, broadens the addressable market for digital services providers. It adds new resilience to existing West African cable systems and provides telecoms organisations, multinationals, and enterprises with additional capacity to empower their cross-border digital trade strategies and propel digital transformation.
“The Equiano cable brings enhanced connectivity and increased capacity across regions that were previously hard to reach. Through Teraco, access to this cable is an interconnect away. In keeping with our tagline ‘The world connects here’, we are proud to play a role in accessing this cable system connecting Africa,” says McCann.
Peering at Africa’s largest internet exchange, NAPAfrica, is now also possible for many West African countries and brings not only improved latency but network fault tolerance, enhanced reliability in traffic exchange, increased routing control, and improved network performance, with future improvements expected.
The Equiano subsea cable will address the need for more cost-effective bandwidth at reduced latency, further enabling intercontinental connectivity and the growth of Africa’s access to and participation in the digital economy.
For a copy of the African Telecommunications Map and more information, meet the Teraco team at the 10th Open Access event in Cape Town from 7 to 10 November or visit www.open-access.co.za
