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. TechCentral