THE price of Internet cost is set for further crash in Africa, as the continent is set to receive a broadband windfall following the successful landing of the West Africa Cable System (WACS) submarine cable off the west coast of South Africa last week and the commercial launch of Nigerias Glo 1 in Accra, Ghana, forth night ago.Specifically, the WACS submarine cable is an ultra high capacity fiber optic submarine cable system, which links Southern Africa and Europe, spanning the west coast of Africa and terminating in London, United Kingdom, with a cost put at $650 million.A source at MTN yesterday, confirmed that WACS has entered into Nigeria, but yet to go commercial, but that by next month, it will go full commercial.According to MTN, WACS has 15 terminal stations, which anchor along the western coast of Africa, including countries like Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. WACS is a 14, 000 kilometre long fibre optic submarine cable with a capacity of 5.12 terabits per second (Tbps).Spanning the west coast of Africa and terminating in the United Kingdom, WACS will enable seamless connectivity between countries in Southern and West Africa, with the rest of Europe and America. According to the Managing Director, MTN South Africa, Karel Pienaar, WACS will provide millions of MTN subscribers across Africa the much-needed bandwidth and will go a long way towards catapulting Africa into the digital age.He added that lack of bandwidth on the continent has arrested the development of Africa and has constrained the continent from achieving its full potential.Meanwhile, in Ghana at the launch of Glo-1 high-capacity submarine fibre optic cable, which will add 640 gigabytes bandwidth capacity to Ghanas broadband infrastructure, Ghanas Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, who was the special guest of honour said that Glo-1s arrival will go a long way to support the implementation of an ICT-led socio-economic development policy and an e-strategy plan for the government in its bid to establish Ghana as an ICT hub within the sub-region.Globacoms programme to rollout a modern cellular network in Ghana promises to ignite the communications landscape in the coming months. We therefore look forward to a rewarding engagement in the development of broadband infrastructure in Ghana, he said.To the Group Chief Operating Officer of Globacom, Mr. Mohamed Jameel, multiple benefits likely to accrue to Ghanaians from Glo-1s broadband capacity if the society could optimise the use of the facilitys infinite capacity.Ghanaians and Africans in general now have the limitless potential of being connected to a new era of prosperity where bulk data that can instantly be used to transform lives and climb the social and economic ladder can now be downloaded and uploaded at the speed of light, he said.Jameel said Globacom would not relent in its avowed commitment to avail Ghanaians of the very best telecommunication infrastructure through the Glo-1 submarine cable and through the Glo Mobile Ghana network when it becomes operational.Also speaking at the occasion, the Deputy General-Secretary of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mr. Houlin Zhao decried the low level of access to the internet in Africa, observing that while mobile cellular teledensity in the world has almost hit the 80 per cent mark, and is well over 60 per cent in Ghana, the great majority of the worlds people still lack access to the Internet.Here in Africa, fewer than one in ten people are online and only a fraction of them have access to a broadband Internet connection. There are two things we need to do, and I am happy to say that cables such as Glo 1 will help us achieve both. We need to make broadband access much more affordable, and we need to make it much more widespread, Zhao said.
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