English (UK) 
简体中文(中国) Paratus Group announced the landing of Equiano subsea cable in Swakopmund, Namibia on July 1st, 2022. Paratus Group, together with Telecom Namibia, had been selected by Google to build the Swakopmund Cable Landing Station (Swakopmund CLS) for the Equiano subsea cable, following the announcement in last February. Paratus Group acts as the landing party and completed the construction of the new Swakopmund Cable Landing Station in September last year.
Prior to the Namibia landing, the Equiano subsea cable has landed in Togo, Nigeria and Portugal. It will land in Cape Town, South Africa in the next step.
The Equiano subsea cable is expected to become fully operational in Q4 this year.
Currently, there is only one subsea cable landing in Namibia, the West Africa Cable System (WACS). Telecom Namibia is a member of the WACS consortium and landed the cable in Swakopmund in 2011. Telecom Namibia is also a member of the SAT-3/WASC consortium, but the SAT-3/WASC doesn't have a landing point in Namibia.
The landing of the Equiano cable will significantly increase Namibia’s international bandwidth capacity as it is four times greater than WACS. This will not only ensure better stability of connectivity in the country, but also lower latency and higher speeds in global transmission of data.
According to a recent economic impact assessment, conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics, and commissioned by Google, Equiano’s arrival in Namibia is set to increase internet speeds by over 2.5 times; increase internet penetration by 7.5% in the next three years; and act as a catalyst for considerable growth, job creation and sustainability.
Equiano Cable Namibia Landing, Image Credit: @philBE2
