Sparkle to provide Equiano capacity to Namibia

Telecom Namibia has signed an agreement with Telecom Italia's international infrastructure unit, Sparkle, to provide capacity on the Equiano subsea cable.

Through this agreement, the Namibian state-owned telco will receive capacity services from the Equiano submarine cable that connects Portugal to South Africa.

In a statement, Telecom Nambia said the agreement will ensure a diversified, low-latency route between Africa and Europe, supporting Namibia's digital development and the growing demand for data from neighboring countries.

The company added that by leveraging the Equiano submarine cable it can deliver a significant boost to the country's digital infrastructure.

"This partnership offers a diversified, high-capacity route for data transmission, enhancing network resilience and reducing latency. The resulting high-speed connectivity will empower businesses and government institutions to accelerate digital transformation initiatives, fostering economic growth and propelling Namibia towards a knowledge-based economy," Telecom Namibia explained.

Telecom Namibia believes by leveraging the Equiano submarine cable it can deliver a significant boost to the country's digital infrastructure. (Source: freepik)

Telecom Namibia CEO Dr. Stanley Shanapinda said the company was thrilled to partner with Sparkle to leverage the Equiano cable's advanced capabilities.

"The Equiano cable's high-speed, low-latency connection will serve as a catalyst for innovation and economic growth across the nation, Shanapinda added.

"We are also proud to see how our infrastructure on the Equiano submarine cable is proving crucial for the evolution of the telecommunications sector in the African continent," added Sparkle CEO Enrico Bagnasco.

Equiano enhances resiliency

Telecom Namibia said the Equiano cable enhances the resiliency of subsea cable infrastructure by providing redundancy, and this ensures uninterrupted service continuity in the event of an outage on either the South Atlantic-3 (Sat-3) or West Africa Cable System (WACS).

The partnership comes at a time when subsea cables have been experiencing breakages, leading to a slow-down of Internet connections and sometimes even connection outages.

In March, four cables were damaged when a suspected subsea seismic event occurred off the coast of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire on the west coast of Africa, impacting Africa's Internet services.

In May, both the East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy) and Seacom cable systems along Africa's east coast went down, but they have been subsequently repaired.

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The Telecom Namibia partnership with Sparkles works well as Equiano, whose journey began in Lisbon, Portugal in 2019 with several stops along the western coast of Africa, and landings in Melkbosstrand, South Africa and Swakopmund in Namibia.

*Top image is of Equiano cable landing station in Swakopmund in Namibia. (Source: Telecom Namibia.)

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa