The construction of the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) was completed Monday, a few days ahead of schedule, marking a milestone toward the launch of the cable in June. Finalizing a successful construction program, the joining of the two segments making up the West Indian Ocean Cable Company's EASSy network was completed by a cable-laying vessel in the Indian Ocean just off the East African coast. The installation phase of the project started in Maputo, Mozambique, in December 2009. "Now that this critical stage of the project has been completed successfully and ahead of time, we will start testing the system almost immediately," said Chris Wood, WIOCC CEO, in a statement.

Wood said the WIOCC is working with shareholders to deliver high-speed, fiber-optic connectivity not only to EASSy landing stations but deep into Africa's interior. The cable has landing stations in nine African countries including South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia and Tanzania but will also connect landlocked countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana.
A key difference between EASSy and other Sub-Saharan Africa systems is that EASSy cable will deliver connectivity to Europe via a direct route through the Red and Mediterranean Seas, minimizing time taken for traffic from Africa to reach the key Internet peering points in Europe and North Africa, and vice versa.
With most African traffic destined for Europe and the U.S., where the most popular content and applications are located, EASSy's potential ability to deliver content faster could give the cable an edge in the Africa's broadband market.
EASSy's open access structure also promises to revolutionize many African markets, bringing flexible and cost-effective international connectivity to fixed line, mobile and data network operators and ISPs. The EASSy cable is a 10,000 km submarine cable system along the east coast of Africa.