April 19, 2012
South African firms i3 Africa and Imphandze have received formal support from the governments of China and South Africa for a proposed 34,000 km submarine cable linking the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to the US, it was announced at the BRICS Forum in New Delhi. BNamericas reported that the proposed 12.8Tbps BRICS Cable is expected to cost more than USD1 billion, and could be ready for service by the second half of 2014 if it attracts the necessary level of funding support. However, competition for investment funding is mounting, as there are currently three other large-scale cable projects involving South America to Africa undersea links which are in the proposal stages, namely the SAex system, the WASACE South Atlantic cable and Telebras’ mooted Brazil-Angola route.