Due to a probable rock fall in the Congo Canyon, the WACS, SAT-3 and ACE subsea cables have been damaged, disrupting services for many Southern African connectivity providers.
When the damage occurred, WIOCC was able to transition its clients’ traffic onto its full fibre pair on the Equiano cable in a matter of hours.
It also helped many other major players in the industry, including those who were not clients previously, to restore connectivity services at short notice.
This, WIOCC says, was possible thanks to its sizeable investment into high-capacity, redundant IP backbone, which ensures it is capable of handling any unexpected events.
“As a strategic investor in the major subsea cables serving Africa, we always carry extra capacity for these scenarios,” said Darren Bedford, WIOCC’s chief business development officer.
“We pride ourselves on having been able to move ISPs and IP Transit companies onto Equiano within a single day.”
As WIOCC has purchased its own fibre pair on the Equiano cable, it is well-positioned to help ISPs and IP Transit providers who need urgent access to capacity in the wake of the WACS, SAT-3 and ACE cable breaks.
The Equiano undersea cable, which was officially launched in September 2022, runs between Portugal and South Africa - and was fully funded by Google.
The cable comprises 12 fibre pairs that deliver a combined 144Tbps of capacity, with each Equiano fibre pair delivering 12Tbps of capacity.
