The deal gives WIOCC capacity on two additional submarine cable systems, the Europe India Gateway (EIG) and West Africa Cable System (WACS), both of which Cable&Wireless Worldwide owns a stake in.
WIOCC said the additional network reach will add to the resilience of its cable assets, and improve speed of connectivity with Europe, as well as south Asia. The WACS deal will effectively give WIOCC an undersea ring around the whole African continent when that cable launches.
C&W Worldwide Cable, the division that WIOCC has been dealing with, has interests in 60 major subsea cable systems, with links to more than 150 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India, the Middle East and North America.
The WIOCC consortium consists of 14 African telecoms operators, and a number of international Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
“C&WW is an ideal partner as we share a similar vision of investing in strategic telecoms infrastructure to support the growth of Africa,” said WIOCC CEO Chris Wood.
