Once Equiano becomes fully operational in fourth quarter this year, it is expected to deliver up to 20 times more capacity than was previously available in Namibia.
According to a recent economic impact assessment, conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics, and commissioned by Google, Equiano’s arrival in Namibia is set to increase internet speeds by over 2.5 times; increase internet penetration by 7.5% in the next three years; and act as a catalyst for considerable growth, job creation, and sustain-ability.
The Equiano subsea internet cable landed at the Namibian coast in Swakopmund on 1 July.
The cable was pulled out of the ocean, near Platz Am Meer Shopping Mall in Vineta. The cable comes from Portugal, and will stretch along the west coast of Africa. Swakopmund is the second last stop of the cable drop-off. The last stop will be Yzerfontein in Cape Town-South Africa.
In February 2021, African telco, Paratus Group, together with Telecom Namibia, was selected to build the cable landing station (CLS) for the Equiano sub-sea internet cable in Namibia. The investment cost is about N$300 million.
Paratus completed the building of the CLS in September last year, and the internal fit – including power, cabling cabinets, conduits, race-ways, cages, and security – was completed in January 2022. According to the current CEO of Paratus Group, Barney Harmse, Namibia has higher internet connection levels – at 40.5% compared with an average of 29% for sub-Saharan African countries – but has relied upon West Africa Cable System (WACS) for its international connectivity until now. The landing of the Equiano cable will significantly increase Namibia’s international bandwidth capacity as it is four times greater than WACS. This will not only ensure better stability of connectivity in the country but also lower latency and higher speeds in the global transmission of data.
Commenting on the landing of the cablerecently, Harmse said, “it means a great deal to ICT and Namibia in general, this means that every consumer in Namibia will have a new experience when they go onto the internet as soon as we have connected this cable to our landing station. From Swakopmund, we will be distributing massive internet capacity in Namibia and the rest of our Southern African neighbours. It is good for Namibia, it is good for our economy, we are creating more jobs and the most important thing is that we are putting Namibia on the map forever.”
Commenting on the landing of Equiano in Namibia, Nitin Gajria, Managing Director of Google Sub-Saharan Africa said, “Google is committed to sup-porting Africa’s digital transformation and we are excited to see the impact of the landing of Equiano in Namibia. We’ve worked with experts – Paratus Group (and Telecom Namibia) in Namibia – to guarantee that Equiano has the greatest potential effect in Namibia and throughout Africa.”
Telecom Namibia Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stanley Shanapinda said, “the Google Equiano Cable shore landing is a major step in the development of our national telecommunications infrastructure.