Glo plans new submarine cable

Globacom, has kicked-off the construction of a multi-billion-naira optic fibre submarine cable which is expected to boost telecom services in Nigeria and West Africa, in its bid to consolidate its position as the leading company in the Nigerian telecommunication industry.

The new project, named Glo 2, was announced during the formal contract-signing ceremony between Globacom and its partner, Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider held in Lagos

Speaking at the event, Mr. Sanjib Roy, Globacom’s regional director, Technical, said the submarine cable would be built from Glo 1 landing station, Alpha Beach in Lagos and will run along the coast to the Southern part of Nigeria, adding that it will provide capacity to offshore oil platforms and the communities as well as facilitate ultra-high capacity connection to South-South Region 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 explained.

The Glo Technical Chief explained that the Glo 2 project would provide high speed internet connectivity, thus supporting the oil platforms to improve productivity, upload data to remote oil platforms at the speed of light. In addition, it will also provide economic as well as social empowerment of the communities in oil producing regions through unique telecommunication service delivery.

“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 explained.

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,” he added.

Mr. Roy also stated that Glo 2 would facilitate high capacity connections between oil companies’ offices onshore and their offshore locations. “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.

He stated further that the cable would be divided into three pairs, with the first pair connecting Lagos directly to 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 (2) 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, by one Company currently provides sufficient bandwidth for the West Africa sub-region. It is the only international submarine cable in Nigeria.

In his remarks, Mr Li Beifang, Managing Director of Huawei Nigeria, said that “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 digitalization to Nigerian economy”.