A survey ship left Port Victoria yesterday to measure the exact distance of the route the planned fibre-optic cable will follow to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

The work will help in making the 2,000-kilometre cable, due to be laid by the middle or end of next year when it will boost internet access and speed.

Vice-President Danny Faure – who is also Minister for Information Communication Technology (ICT) – visited the 1,800-tonne EGS Explorer at the port yesterday before it left.

He was accompanied by principal secretary for ICT Benjamin Choppy, Cable & Wireless chief executive Charles Hammond and Airtel’s financial director Sharon Kabahuma and public relations manager Gail Talma Jumeau.

The two companies and the government will jointly own the cable.

Consultant Michel Rouilleaut of Axion – the submarine telecommunication service company doing the survey – briefed them on the work his 45 crew members will be doing during the two-week trip.

“We want to know the precise length and situation on the sea bottom, where the cable will be laid,” he said.

“We will first cover the continental shelf then go to waters that reach five-kilometre depths.

“The project involves measuring the distance up to Dar es Salaam, where another cable exists.

“Once we get the exact profile of the sea bottom we will know the precise length of the cable. So every part of the cable will be measured according to the area it will pass.”

He said the cable’s shield against physical damage will be thinnest where the sea is deep but heavily insulated against water pressure in those areas.

“As it reaches Seychelles it will be 45mm in diameter because of the extra protection it will have against physical damage,” he added.

Mr Rouilleaut said the Explorer has security personnel on board to protect the crew from pirates.
Mr Choppy said the cable-laying process is on schedule so far, but it is difficult to give an exact date for its completion.

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