Subsea Cable to Link Brazil and Angola

The president of Telebras, Caio Bonilha, and president of Angola Cables, António Nunes, closed a deal that will ensure the joint construction of a submarine cable between Brazil and Angola. The agreement was signed on Friday, at the Office of Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo, in Brazil.

The cable will consist of about 6,000 kilometers, linking Fortaleza in Luanda, and it should be released until the first half of 2014. Studies for the launch of the first submarine cable linking the two continents began in November 2011.

According to the Minister Paulo Bernardo, the initiative will reduce the costs of telecommunications connection between the two continents, to facilitate the cultural adaptation and cultural ties between the two.

“The main goal is to strengthen ties through the communication. This will be a cable with a great capacity for data transfer and we will be able to facilitate the cooperation in scientific, cultural production, audiovisual tasks, and to strengthen an entire commercial tie with Angola. It will provide much cheaper communication costs between the two countries, and strength between the two continents, “says Bernardo.

The Deputy Minister for Telecommunications of Angola, Aristides Safeca, stressed that the launch of the submarine cable is among the main projects developed jointly between the two countries. “Not only is it of a strategic importance, but also of a very deep interest to these people, who are already united by language, common history, and thus open road with this high capacity and speed, may further unite their culture, science, and creation of human resources, “said the Angolan deputy minister.

According to the president of Telebras, the announcement should be released until next June and the budget required is still being analyzed. Bonilha also said that a study by international consultancy has demonstrated the feasibility of the initiative. “It is a strategic partnership between two leading companies of both countries, allowing a rebalancing of international traffic,” said the president of Telebras.

Telebras predicts a performance improvement and a reduction of about 80% of the costs of Internet in Brazil and other countries of South America to Asia and Africa. With this initiative, the traffic destined to these continents will no longer have to go through, obligatorily, Europe and the United States, as happens today.

[mappress]
Subsea World News Staff , March 26, 2012;  Image: nkt cables