Aug 31 2010
Alcatel-Lucent announced that it will expand the WACS (West Africa Cable System) to the UK from Portugal, to match the capacity demands due to the penetration of broadband services.
The new 2000-km 40Gbps network expansion will increase the design capacity from 3.8 to 5.12 Terabit/s. The optical fiber network expansion follows the recently conducted field trial using Alcatel-Lucent 40G solution. The extension will boost the network connectivity along the route between Europe and Africa, by offering enhanced Internet services and communications.
The commercial service is anticipated to begin next year, and WACS will offer direct global submarine cable network access to the Republic of Congo, Togo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Namibia. The WACS will link South Africa to the United Kingdom with landings in Portugal, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Namibia.
The WACS will install advanced capabilities of GMPLS, offering automated and dynamic service provisioning for high-quality service. It can also optimize the resource usage of the network by using the intelligent network management, thus, enhancing the resiliency of the network.