Tata Communications announced joining the West African Cable System (WACS) which comprises of  a consortium of leading operators signed up to build such a system at an investment of $ 600 million.

The system will link countries in Southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe offering speeds of atleast 3.84 terabits. Landing points include South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The technology partner for the initiative is Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks which will implement the 14,000 km long cable system to be ready by 2011.

The operators in the project include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Tata Communications, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.

“We are very pleased to be participating in the West Africa Cable System. The investment is another step for Tata Communications in bolstering its capabilities in the African market, and will enhance our service propositions together with our partner Neotel in bringing added diversity into South Africa.” said Byron Clatterbuck, Senior Vice President—Global Transmission Services at Tata Communications.