Rough waters delay Equiano cable landing
The landing of the long-awaited Equiano submarine fibre-optic internet cable on Swakopmund’s shore, scheduled to take place on 17 June, has been postponed due to unpredictable weather conditions.
Although the "Ile de Sein" vessel carrying the cable has arrived in Namibian waters, additional undersea work - required before the cable can be brought to shore - is highly dependent on calm seas. "The date for shoring of the cable has changed several times. "During winter, our Namibian waters are renowned for their unpredictability," Paratus marketing coordinator Cornelia Mans said Tuesday.
It is hoped the shoring will occur between 22 and 24 June, "depending on weather conditions".
Paratus completed its N$28 million landing station at Swakopmund - with all its high-tech fitting and security - in January, about a year after Paratus and Google became partners for the Equiano cable in Namibia. As with the West Africa Cable System (WACS) that landed at Swakopmund’s Mole area a decade ago, the new Equiano cable is about 14 000 km long, and will span from Portugal to South Africa with nine branching units - of which one is Namibia - through Swakopmund.
This time, the cable will land at the Platz am Meer waterfront area, and wind itself over one kilometre to the cable station situated at Ocean View. There, it will be connected to the network equipment that lights up the fibre, to enable it to carry data. The entire project will cost about N$6 billion. Namibia's investment in the project is about N$260 million, which includes the cable station.
The Equiano cable will provide 20 times more network capacity than the previous cable – substantially increasing the international data capacity to Namibia at 12 terabytes per second. In 2019, Google first announced that its sub-sea cable project, Equiano, would connect Africa with Europe - running along the west coast of Africa.
Paratus is the landing party for the Namibian branch of Equiano.
Although the "Ile de Sein" vessel carrying the cable has arrived in Namibian waters, additional undersea work - required before the cable can be brought to shore - is highly dependent on calm seas. "The date for shoring of the cable has changed several times. "During winter, our Namibian waters are renowned for their unpredictability," Paratus marketing coordinator Cornelia Mans said Tuesday.
It is hoped the shoring will occur between 22 and 24 June, "depending on weather conditions".
Paratus completed its N$28 million landing station at Swakopmund - with all its high-tech fitting and security - in January, about a year after Paratus and Google became partners for the Equiano cable in Namibia. As with the West Africa Cable System (WACS) that landed at Swakopmund’s Mole area a decade ago, the new Equiano cable is about 14 000 km long, and will span from Portugal to South Africa with nine branching units - of which one is Namibia - through Swakopmund.
This time, the cable will land at the Platz am Meer waterfront area, and wind itself over one kilometre to the cable station situated at Ocean View. There, it will be connected to the network equipment that lights up the fibre, to enable it to carry data. The entire project will cost about N$6 billion. Namibia's investment in the project is about N$260 million, which includes the cable station.
The Equiano cable will provide 20 times more network capacity than the previous cable – substantially increasing the international data capacity to Namibia at 12 terabytes per second. In 2019, Google first announced that its sub-sea cable project, Equiano, would connect Africa with Europe - running along the west coast of Africa.
Paratus is the landing party for the Namibian branch of Equiano.
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