A second fibre optic cable has landed in Seychelles and scheduled to be operational in May. The cable that will connect the Pakistan East Africa Cable Express (PEACE) landed this week at Perseverance Island in the Seychelles.

According to Seychelles’ Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology Benjamin Choppy the objective of the cable is to ensure that Seychelles has security in international connectivity.

Choppy added that the PEACE cable, being undertaken by the Seychelles Cable Systems (SCS) at a cost of US$20-million, will act as a backup in connecting Seychelles with the rest of the world through faster and reliable internet.

SCS is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) comprising the government, Cable and Wireless Seychelles and Airtel Seychelles.

Choppy said the new cable is using the latest technology and that its capacity is much greater than the one Seychelles has currently and will provide better and reliable services.

He said, “For over ten years now, we had only one cable and this presented a risk for us if anything happens to the cable. If you look at the amount of traffic that we have on cable, over 95% is on the Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) cable and if something went wrong, it would be catastrophic.With the coming of the new cable, we are safe. It also means that operators can access the capacity directly from Europe compared to now when they have to go through Tanzania and then move to another cable for their other destinations.”

Airtel Seychelles Managing Director Amadou Dina told Seychelles News Agency:  that, “the landing of the cable is another milestone for Seychelles and especially for Airtel because we have also invested in that joint venture. Obviously our customers will benefit from this cable and we have already prepared for its arrival. We have already designed new products and it is for now a strategic move that I cannot disclose at this time.”

The project benefited from financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).