SAex
Encyclopedia
SAex is a proposed submarine communications cable
linking South Africa
and Angola
to Brazil
with onward connectivity to the United States
that will connect to the existing GlobeNet cable system. The project was announced in 2011 following. In April, 2011 the Bank of China
announced that it was interested in investing 60% of the funds required for the project. The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa has also expressed interest in funding. The project is expected to cost R3 billion to complete.
Currently, internet traffic
bounded from South Africa to the Americas
routes through Europe
. The SAex cable if constructed, will therefore reduce latency
and bandwidth
costs associated with the distance that internet traffic currently has to travel by providing the shortest route possible to the Americas. The initial design capacity of the cable is 12.8 Tb/s and will be over 10,000 kilometres in length. It will consist of four fibre bit pairs. A branching unit will split the pairs giving Angola
and South Africa
two pairs each. The cable will also supply capacity to India via SEACOM.
The cable system is expected to be operational in mid-2013 and once completed will be the highest-capacity cable to serve South Africa, and will be the second submarine cable to link Africa
with South America
, through the South Atlantic (the first one being ATLANTIS-2
).
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
linking South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
with onward connectivity to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that will connect to the existing GlobeNet cable system. The project was announced in 2011 following. In April, 2011 the Bank of China
Bank of China
Bank of China Limited is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China...
announced that it was interested in investing 60% of the funds required for the project. The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa has also expressed interest in funding. The project is expected to cost R3 billion to complete.
Currently, internet traffic
Internet traffic
-Historical Internet Traffic Growth:Because of the distributed nature of the Internet, there is no single point of measurement for total Internet traffic...
bounded from South Africa to the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
routes through Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The SAex cable if constructed, will therefore reduce latency
Latency (engineering)
Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured. Latencies may have different meaning in different contexts.-Packet-switched networks:...
and bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
costs associated with the distance that internet traffic currently has to travel by providing the shortest route possible to the Americas. The initial design capacity of the cable is 12.8 Tb/s and will be over 10,000 kilometres in length. It will consist of four fibre bit pairs. A branching unit will split the pairs giving Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
two pairs each. The cable will also supply capacity to India via SEACOM.
The cable system is expected to be operational in mid-2013 and once completed will be the highest-capacity cable to serve South Africa, and will be the second submarine cable to link Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
with South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, through the South Atlantic (the first one being ATLANTIS-2
ATLANTIS-2
ATLANTIS-2 is a fiber optic transatlantic telecommunications cable connecting Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and Portugal.The Atlantis 2 project total cost was US$370 million invest by a 25 international carrier consortium led technically and financially by Embratel with...
).