Potential investors on $1.5 billion undersea cable connecting the BRICS group to each other and the U.S. are about to decide whether they’ll proceed with funding of the project, reports Reuters.
According to Andrew Mthembu, chairman of i3 Africa which is promoting the project, the cable which would link Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is expected to come online by the end of 2014.
Reuters quoted Mr. Mthembu as saying: “ I’m hoping within the coming six months we will all be in a position to get all the consortium members into some sort of agreement, and then from there it’s then a 24 month period for manufacture and installation.”
South Africa’s communication minister Dina Pule commented on the project: “All of these cable connections should help improve the connection to our new trade partners, reduce the cost to communicate and improve the quality of the Internet services.”
Africa is currently connected to Europe, North America and Asia via nine undersea cables, with five more submarine links planned by 2014.
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , June 05, 2012; Image: BRICS