PEACE subsea cable expanding to South Africa

The Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable network is set to broaden its reach even further by 2021, in a project being called PEACE South. 

 

Currently, the network is set to connect to the African continent via Mombasa, Kenya, but a new expansion will see its reach extend all the way to South Africa.

 

The PEACE cable is a cooperative project on the behalf of PCCW Global and PEACE Cable International Network Co., Limited.

 

PCCW Global has indicated that they view this expansion as “natural” following the steady progression of the PEACE Med and PEACE East projects so far.

 

“Since the construction of Peace East and Peace Med are both expected to be completed on time, on budget and within the originally specified plan of work, the planned extension through Peace South is a natural expansion for Asian investment in Africa, enhancing cooperation and shared economic benefits in the exchange of goods, technology and ideas,” explained Frederick Chui, chief commercial officer for PCCW Global.

 

PEACE Med and PEACE East will respectively link Marseille, France to Pakistan via the Europe–Asia route, and also Mombasa, Kenya courtesy of a relatively short hop across the Indian Ocean. The new PEACE South expansion would run down Africa’s east coast to add South Africa to this network.

 

“Investment in the PEACE South extension is being provided solely by the PEACE partnership, with commercial implementation assistance from PCCW Global,” said Sun Xiaohua, chief operating officer of PEACE Cable International. “This illustrates the extent of our commitment to the project as a major strategic opportunity to spearhead the deployment and commercialization of better connectivity between Africa, Europe and Asia.”

 

The new connection will open up the Southern African Development Community and East African markets to cable partners, offering them very low latency routes from China, Europe, and the Middle East.