Namibia gets undersea Internet cable

Namibia's undersea telecoms fibre-optic cable laid along the West African coast went live on Tuesday, allowing high bandwidth connectivity for the country and its neighbours, officials said.

"The 14,900 kilometre West African Cable System (WACS) will bring direct connectivity between Namibia, West Africa and the United Kingdom," said Frans Ndoroma, managing director of Telecom Namibia at the connection ceremony.

The cable which landed in Swakopmund beach, some 370 kilometres west of capital Windhoek was developed by Telecom Namibia and French partner Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks for $600 million dollars.

"The cable will provide an Internet speed of at least 5120 gigabits (= 5.12 Terabits)," Ndoroma added.

Other landing points are in several African countries and in Britain, Portugal and Spain's Canary Islands.

The arrival of the cable which will also be extended to Botswana is expected to bring down prices for Internet users and broadband connectivity.

"The investors would want some return on their investments, so I expect prices to fall only later, not immediately," said Marc Gregan, the manager of Internet services provider AfricaOnline Namibia.