Idc To Back Major South African Subsea Cable Project

TechCentral has learnt exclusively that the Industrial Development Corporation IDC has approved project development capital to complete a "definitive" feasibility study for the SAEx East Subsea Fibre-Optic Cable Project, which will connect South Africa with Singapore in Southeast Asia.

The project, which has been in development in various guises for more than a decade, may finally be moving ahead, with financial close on fundraising expected in the second half of the year.

The last time any news emerged from the SAEx team was seven years ago, when it was said it had contracted Alcatel Submarine Networks to conduct a submarine survey.

The IDC and SAEx International Management Limited SIML will be co-sponsors of the SAEx East project - the first phase of an envisaged cable system that will eventually also deliver a route from South Africa to the Americas across the Atlantic Ocean. When completed, the entire cable system will be known as the SAEx Southern Oceans Network, or SAEx SON.

"The network will connect four continents along a unique but resilient southern hemispheric all-wet routing that connects South Africa to Asia via Singapore," SAEx said in a statement shared with TechCentral.