TCS+ | WIOCC and 2Africa: providing an alternative to national long-distance fibre

--:--
The 2Africa submarine communications cable, which will be the longest such system in the world when it’s completed, is already helping one South African internet service provider find an alternative route for its data traffic between KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
2Africa’s eastern segment – known as 2Africa Gera – is largely complete, and traffic is already flowing across the section that connects Durban and Cape Town, thanks to a newly concluded agreement between 2Africa investor WIOCC Group and FirstNet Technology Services, an ISP in the First Technologies Group stable.
To discuss this development and unpack it in more detail, TechCentral invited WIOCC director of sales for South Africa Carlos De Almeida and FirstNet GM Sean van Niekerk onto the TCS+ business technology podcast.
In the show, De Almeida discusses the scale of the 180Tbit/s design capacity 2Africa cable, its state of readiness and WIOCC’s investment in the massive system, which, when completed, will stretch a staggering 45 000km and connect countries with a combined population of more than three billion people.
De Almeida and Van Niekerk discuss:
• Why FirstNet acquired capacity on 2Africa to carry network traffic between KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape – becoming the first company to do so;
• Why routing via a subsea cable, rather than using traditional terrestrial long-distance routes, should mean far fewer service interruptions for FirstNet customers;
• FirstNet’s focus as an ISP, and why it launched a brand called UrbanXConnect dedicated to the gaming community and their specific requirements around latency and network quality;
• The reliability, speeds and latencies possible on the 2Africa cable, and why this is critical for FirstNet; and
• Why, in WIOCC’s view, other ISPs could and should follow FirstNet’s lead in using the 2Africa cable for their national long-distance internet traffic.
Don’t miss a fascinating discussion about a pioneering agreement.
1 Jul English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Sandile Dube on Equinix and South Africa’s data centre boom

Nasdaq-listed Equinix has completed construction of the first phase of a new data centre in Johannesburg, part of a R7.5-billion commitment to building cloud infrastructure in South Africa and the rest of the continent over the next five years. The company’s South African MD, Sandile Dube – a former country…
23 Oct 21 min

TCS | Lesaka’s Lincoln Mali on the fintech opportunity in South Africa

Lincoln Mali has been at the helm of Lesaka Technologies Southern Africa, a fintech with a sizeable footprint in Southern Africa’s informal markets, since 2021. One of his main tasks has been to turn the company’s finances around by reigning in business units that were haemorrhaging cash in the past…
23 Oct 22 min

TCS+ | Switchcom and Huawei forge new alliance

Networking equipment wholesaler Switchcom Distribution has partnered with Huawei Technologies to bring new offerings to the South African market and elsewhere in Africa. In this episode of TCS+, Lynton Brits, national sales manager at Switchcom, and Tanki Lebatla, account manager at Huawei, tell TechCentral’s TCS+ business technology show about the…
16 Oct 9 min

TCS+ | CYBER1 Solutions on choosing a managed security service provider

In this episode of TCS+, TechCentral speaks to CYBER1 Solutions executives Jayson O’Reilly, the company’s MD, and Akeel Sayed, head of its managed services division, about the benefits and challenges of using a managed security service provider (MSSP). The conversation starts by discussing the growing complexity of cybersecurity and the…
15 Oct 48 min

TCS | The Solly Malatsi interview – BEE, SOEs and Starlink

Communications minister Solly Malatsi, a DA MP and the first non-ANC politician to hold the key technology portfolio in the democratic era, has been in the job for three months – sufficient time to get a broad handle on the big issues. In this first interview with the TechCentral Show,…
9 Oct 43 min