Lagos — Nigeria's second national carrier, Globacom, has emphasised its readiness to launch its international submarine cable, Glo 1, touted as the solution to Nigeria and West Africa's bandwidth requirements, in March 2009.

Globacom, in a statement yesterday, said the 9,500 kilometre state-of-the-art cable would enable it to have a clear distinction in providing quality services through multiple and high quality direct links to several countries across the globe.

It added that the cable would enable it to interconnect with several international networks and leading traffic carriers all over the world.

The firm's Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel, said the $150 million contract for the construction of the 8,300-kilometre long submarine cable was awarded to Alcatel of France.

The project is expected to provide connectivity from Lagos to Bude in UK through fibre optic cable laid undersea.

The cable, which is of the 32 STM 64 type, has virtual infinite capacity and therefore offers sufficient capacity traffic for the company's mobile, fixed, and Internet telecommunications services.

Jameel said in readiness for the launch, 4,400 kilometres of the undersea cable had already been laid from UK, through Portugal to Nouakchott in Mauritania.

According to him, cable laying from Nouakchott to Nigeria had started, adding that the cable required to complete the laying of the facility to Nigeria was already on its way.

He said the cable, with a capacity of 640 Giga bytes, would have landing points in UK, Portugal, Ghana and Senegal as well as in Lagos and Bonny in Nigeria by February next year.

Jameel added that landing points would also be extended to other West Africa countries by the fourth quarter of 2009. There will be 18 branching units along the route upon completion of the project.

Glo-1 is the first of such project embarked upon by any single organisation in the world.

Nigerians and African have been eagerly awaiting the inauguration of the cable ever since the firm disclosed that it had started work on it.

Globacom, Jameel noted, embarked on Glo-1 submarine cable in keeping with its aspirations to avail Africa the possibilities offered by broadband.

In addition to the Glo 1 project, Jameel said Alcatel would also provide one STM 64 submarine cable capacity from UK to New York to connect Nigeria to the United States (US) to provide crystal clear voice calls and high speed data/Internet transmission services.

"The undersea cable is designed with the latest technology and it is the first of such state-of-the-art submarine cable which will connect Nigeria directly to United Kingdom and further to the United States, the two major data hubs of the world. It further enhances Nigeria's capacity to provide telephone hubbing services for the rest of the world," he noted.

Globacom became a major player in the international telecommunications industry when it inaugurated its switch in the UK.

It also launched its Point of Presence in Paris, France, Frankfurt, Germany and the US.

Globacom's aim is to have gateway infrastructure and switches not only in Africa, Europe and America, but also in Singapore and Hong Kong in Asia, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) in the Middle East and the Australian continent which will strategically position it as a major player in the global telecoms industry.

Globacom's international operation is backed by the four gateways it has deployed in Nigeria comprising two in Lagos, one in Abuja and one in Port Harcourt.