Cable & Wireless Seychelles, a Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) company, says it has completed deployment of a nationwide fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) network. The carrier will support services over the FTTC network using the country’s first subsea cable network.
The FTTC roll out lasted two years, the company says. It will play off of the Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) undersea cable system that recently entered commercial service. The 2,000-km SEAS connects Beau Vallon, a bay on the main island of Mahé, with Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Seychelles international communications previously relied on satellite links. Alcatel-Lucent supplied hardware and services for the deployment (see "Submarine cable network to link Seychelles and Tanzania").
Cable & Wireless Seychelles expects the new infrastructure to significantly improve broadband communications within the Indian Ocean archipelago. Internet services currently reach only about 30% of households and businesses, the carrier estimates.
“Our country-wide fiber broadband network, supported by the new SEAS cable, represents a momentous step forward for telecoms in the Seychelles,” said Charles Hammond, CEO of Cable & Wireless Seychelles, in a press release. “It will support the rapid growth in demand for fixed and mobile broadband usage across the islands as well as providing better telecom connections for businesses both locally and internationally.”