The Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) is a 1917km submarine optic fibre cable between Seychelles and Tanzania, the first international submarine cable connecting the Seychelles.
SEAS links the main island Mahé in Seychelles to the African coast in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. While the Cable Landing Station in Seychelles is located in the capital Victoria. In Tanzanian, SEAS is co-located with the EASSy international submarine cable branch in ZANTEL's Cable Landing Station in Dar Es Salaam.
SEAS is owned and operated by the Seychelles Cable Systems Company Ltd (SCS), an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) comprising the Seychelles Government, Cable & Wireless (Seychelles) and Airtel (Seychelles), established in 2008 for the construction and operation of the Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS).
In November 2010, SCS awarded ASN (ALCATEL Submarine Networks) a supply contract of over €24 million (approximately US$30 million) for the manufacturing and laying of the Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS).
The overall project cost of SEAS is about €27.2 million, financed through 40% equity and 60% debt. Equity contributions are split between three shareholders, the Government of the Seychelles, Cable and Wireless Seychelles and Airtel. For the funding of the Government’s shareholding, the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund provides, through the European Investment Bank, a Grant of €4 million (equivalent of US$5.5 million US Dollars. And the long-term debt is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (€7.9 million) and African Development Bank (€7.5 million).
The Seychelles Cable Systems Ltd (SCS) is a private-public partnership comprising of Airtel, Cable and Wireless Seychelles and the Seychelles Government. The EUR 27 million overall project cost is
SEAS was ready for service on August 15, 2012, with initial capacity of 20Gbps and a system capacity of 320Gbps, upgraded to support system capacity of 32 x 100Gbps in January 2018.
In addition to SEAS, the Seychelles Cable Systems Ltd (SCS) invests US$20million in PEACE cable system, the second international submarine cable connecting Seychelles. SCS is also a shareholder of WIOCC, the largest shareholder in the EASSy Consortium.