Mobile giant Globacom is to build another multi-billion naira optic fibre submarine cable, which is expected to boost telecom services in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
The contract for Glo 2 was signed yesterday between Globacom and Huawei at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Globacom’s Regional Director, Technical, Mr. Sanjib Roy said the submarine cable would be built from Glo 1 landing station, Alpha Beach in Lagos. It will run along the coast to the southern part of Nigeria, he said, adding that it will provide capacity to offshore oil platforms and the communities as well as facilitate ultra-high capacity connection to the Southsouth and provide capacity to offshore oil platforms and the communities.
“Glo2 will be the first submarine cable in Nigeria to land outside Lagos as the five existing submarine cables only landed in Lagos. Glo 2 will have capacity of 12Terabit per second and will provide ultra-high speed connection to oil platforms and communities to empower data coverage and support Enterprise market growth in this part of Nigeria,” Mr. Roy said.
Glo 2 is expected to provide high speed internet connectivity, thus supporting the oil platforms to improve productivity by uploading data to remote oil platforms at the speed of light. Besides, it will provide economic as well as social empowerment for the communities in oil producing regions through a unique telecommunication service delivery.
According to him, Glo 2 is coming on board to support the growth of “Nigerian economy and allow oil communities reduce their operational expenditure by providing the first submarine optical fiber dedicated to oil platforms. “It is also designed for further expansion southwards to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola, among others,” Roy added.
“The New submarine cable will be approximately 850 kilometres long and will be named Glo2. The cable will be integrated to Globacom’s existing terrestrial Backbone Network to provide additional service redundancy, especially Abuja and other parts of the country.”
The cable will be divided into three pairs, with the first pair connecting Lagos directly to the Southern part of Nigeria while for redundancy and maintenance purposes it will also be connected to other parts of the country. The second pair will deliver high capacity to offshore oil stations and communities connected directly to Bus and will be equipped with eight switchable Branching Units. The third pair will deliver high capacity to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and will be equipped with two switchable Branching Units.
Glo2 will support the Glo 1 international submarine cable built by Globacom in 2010. Glo 1, managed exclusively from Lagos to London, provides sufficient bandwidth for the West Africa sub-region. It is the only international submarine cable in Nigeria.
Huawei Nigeria Managing Director Mr. Li Beifang said: “Huawei is proud to partner with Globacom to build a revolutionary submarine cable, using innovative and leading technology. We believe the cable would bring a new era of digitalisation to Nigerian economy.”