Main One to turn up phase 2 of submarine cable network in July

Monday, Jun 07, 2010

With phase one of its submarine cable system up and running, Main One is getting ready to launch phase 2 in Ghana and Nigeria with an extension to South Africa by July 1.

Spanning 6,800 km from Seixal, Portugal through the West African Coast to Ghana and Nigeria with 1.93 Tbps of capacity, Main One says phase one of the system is designed to help service providers in these regions get "much-needed global connectivity." The Portugal portion of the network will interconnect Main One with cable systems in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

In addition to SubCom, which is providing terminal equipment and related services, Main One has employed the help of Huawei Nigeria and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU). Main One will leverage Huawei's Intelligence Optical Switching System (OptiX OSN 9500) as the network backbone platform, while Alcatel-Lucent will provide maintenance services for Phase 1 of the system.