SEA cable for Zululand
Dalena van Jaarsveld
ZULULAND is set to become the country's communications hub.
Once the 'SEA cable system', or the submarine telecommunications cable, is installed at Mtunzini or Alkantstrand, South Africa and the whole East African coastline will be able to connect to international communication hubs in Egypt and Europe through one single fibre-optic cable.
In diameter, it is approximately the same size as a garden hose pipe, but in terms of infrastructure impact, it is gigantic.
According to the background information document issued by SRK Consulting, who will be doing the environmental impact assessment (EIA), this new development in South Africa's communications infrastructure will enable the country to transmit ten times the amount of information per second than the existing telecommunications systems.
The cable is able to transmit up to 1.28 terabytes (one terabyte equals one million gigabytes) of information per second.
However, the cable is not without negative impact.
The installation of the cable at Mtunzini beach, which is the preferred location, will take three months.
Among the things that may raise concern with residents of the area are the disturbance of marine seabeds, fisheries, dunes and beach surface.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the EIA process or the laying of the cable can contact SRK Consulting.
Liz Allan - 031 2791200, or email lallan@srk.co.za
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