Subsea Cables & Internet Infrastructure

***Next year we should get 2Africa finally connected to Marseille. But the cost and hence pricing of those links will be relatively high because the consortium must pay and operate terrestrial bypass from either Djibouti or Mombasa to the Sudan 2Africa CLS. Market pricing will decline from current levels, but probably not as much as the majority expects. ***Many of you are over shopping. For example, 2Africa market pricing between JB and Mombasa ranges from upper twenties to lower 40s. Real negotiation is give and take. Not just ask. You want lower price, then prepare to offer long terms or enlarge the deal. You will fail in procurement if your standard opening line is 'give me the lower price possible'. ***When you get a great offer, take it. The East Coast is a tight market. Don't take that offer back to other carriers and try to beat them down. It's annoying and alienates vendors. It is also amateurish. Your focus should be long term relationships, not short term opp...

A point: IColo 1 or IColo 2. Z point: JB1. Term: 2 Years. Customer responisible for cross connects. 2Africa is the Lambourghini of African subsea cables. Better designed than other system with the possible exception of Equiano. Deeply buried in coastal waters and routed to avoid danger spots.

Details are limited, but carriers have been bidding on extending the Peace cable from Mombasa to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I think the big drawback is the iron grip of Tanzania's state owned fibre optic network on connectivity. It has resulted in much higher Layer 1 and Layer 2 prices than in deregulated Kenya. This is a serious deterrent to investment. It means the local ISP and telecom ecosystem is small and may not be enough to sustain the minimum rate of return required to justify the project. The distance is small between Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam so I expect any cable to be unrepeatered.

Mombasa Icolo 1/Djibouti CLS; $23,500 MRC; 3 Years. Protected backhaul to Djibiouti data center only $1,050 extra. 🙂  Mombasa Icolo 2/JB Terraco; $25,400 MRC; 3 Years. Backhaul protected.

As you know, the Rubymar dragged its anchor for 31 kilometers after its crew abandoned it last spring. In so doing it severed the AAE1, Seacom/TGN, and Eassy cables. After several months stalemate, the Houthi rebels gave the consortiums permission to repair them as long as it was done in a low key fashion. The fact that AAE1 lands in Yemen gave the Houthis political cover with their supporters. But the reality is that since then the Houthis have refused to agree to refrain from targeting cable ships laying new systems like 2Africa, Blue-Raman, and SWM6. This is why these projects are currently well behind schedule. There is no way to complete them in the near future as designed. Probably the only way forward right now would be build terrestrially along side the Red Sea through Saudi Arabia. In other words, bypass that part of the Red Sea adjacnet to Yemen. For example, Oman could hand off Blue-Raman traffic to Saudi Arabia which could take it across the desert and essentially bypass th...