OCTOBER 10, 2008 -- Main Street Technologies today confirmed that Phase 1 of the Main One Cable System is progressing on schedule, following the company's acquisition of the first ever issued submarine cable system landing license in West Africa. Main Street Technologies awarded Tyco Telecommunications (search for Tyco Telecommunications) the turnkey supply contract for the system in April 2008.
The Phase 1 cable system will span 6,900 km and provide much needed capacity for international and Internet connectivity to countries between Portugal and the West coast of Africa. The submarine cable project is designed in two phases, with the second phase extending connectivity another 6,000 km to South Africa. The dual-fiber pair, 1.28-Tbit/sec DWDM project will connect Nigeria, Ghana, and Portugal in the first phase with onward connectivity through Portugal to Europe, Asia, and the Americas; in the second phase, it will extend to Angola and South Africa.
The Main One Cable system will provide open access to regional telecom operators and Internet service providers at competitive rates that are less than 20% of current Sat 3 or Satellite international bandwidth prices in the region, says Main Street Technologies. As a business championed by African entrepreneurs, the company will encourage local content development via skills transfer of critical networking technologies and job creation with the location of the global network operational center (GNOC) for the entire system in Nigeria and new cable stations both in Ghana and Nigeria.
The system will provide broadband capacity to expand Internet access in the sub-Saharan region, which currently stands at less than 5%, as well as ease the difficulties of switching traffic between African countries without the need to go through Europe.
"With the support of individual investors from within our region, private equity institutions, development finance institutions and a handful of African banks, the development of the project and execution of the contract by Tyco Telecommunications remains in line with our schedule for completion in May 2010," reports Funke Opeke, CEO of Main Street Technologies.Â
"With efforts such as the Desk Top Study and system design work being complete, we look forward to working with Main Street Technologies to bring this privately owned cable contract for the Main One Cable System to successful conclusion," adds Mike Rieger, vice president of sales, marketing, and project management for Tyco Telecommunications.
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