MainOne has announced that the high-capacity Nigerian-Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS) connecting Lagos, Nigeria and Kribi, Cameroun has been completed and went live last month.
According to the telecoms and network service provider, the cable is a key component of Cameroonian government’s plan to provide internet access to its citizens via a National Broadband Network.
The submarine cable installation, commenced in June 2015 following a three-way partnership between MainOne, The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Cameroun and Huawei Marine Networks. The Cameroon Government invested in the project.
The cable is a six-pair, 1,100 kilometer repeater submarine cable system and will deliver capacity of up to 12.8 Tbps to broadband users in Cameroon. Also, is being lit with 40GB capacity. This extension is expected to boost Cameroon’s extremely low fixed broadband penetration, currently estimated to be around five percent (5%).
This cable is built with branching units for strategic extension of its connectivity into Nigeria’s Escravos in Delta State, Qua Iboe in Akwa Ibom State, and Bonny Island in Rivers State. MainOne has also concluded plans for a distribution hub in Port Harcourt.
MainOne’s Regional Executive for West Africa, Kazeem Oladepo said, “We have seen phenomenal changes across other areas with internet infrastructure such as Lagos, Nigeria where Yaba’s Silicon Hub continues to provide opportunities for jobs, increased investor funding, and enhanced social entrepreneurship which is pushing the frontiers of eCommerce in Nigeria. Nigeria’s South-South region and Cameroun now have the platform to leverage the same quality of access to the internet to catalyze social, economic and technological development.”
Speaking on the milestone, David Nkoto Emane, General Manager, Cameroon Telecommunications Corporation (CAMTEL), said, “The NCSCS system enables us to provide users with faster bandwidth connectivity at a significantly lower cost. By providing direct connection to Nigeria, the cable system will also serve to enhance Cameroon’s position as the major bandwidth hub in the region and internationally to Europe and beyond.”
