Africa's carrier West Indian Ocean Cable Company(WIOCC) won the Best Pan-African Initiative Award at Africa Com 2012, for building an unrivalled, high-capacity network that seamlessly integrates more than 50,000km of African terrestrial fibre with 40,000km of international submarine cable - giving carriers diversity-rich, high-speed international connectivity to and from over 400 locations in 30 African countries.

The Best Pan-African Initiative Award recognises an initiative taken to improve telecommunications services at a regional or continental level across Africa, and was presented to WIOCC CEO Chris Wood at the Africa Com 2012 awards dinner - which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, on 14th November.

After receiving the award, WIOCC CEO Chris Wood commented, "This award recognises WIOCC's unique achievement in bringing together the networks of our 14 African telco shareholders and selected partners, with strategic investments in submarine cables including EIG, WACS and EASSy - to create an unparalleled African network footprint and capability. It clearly demonstrates the power of working together in pursuit of a common goal, resulting in something far greater than the sum of its parts."

As well as serving Africa's coastal regions, WIOCC's network is increasingly enabling businesses and individuals in landlocked countries - such as Botswana, Burundi, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe - to benefit from reliable and affordable international connectivity.