The construction of the 1,4 Tb East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) has been completed ahead of schedule, on Monday, 19 April. The installation phase started in December 2009, in Maputo, Mozambique. The undersea cable landed on the South African coast in February 2010 at Mtunzini and on 6th April on the Tanzanian shore, before the cable-laying vessel joined the two segments in the Indian Ocean. "Now that this critical stage of the project has been completed successfully and ahead of time, we will start testing the system almost immediately", said Chris Wood, West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) CEO, in a statement. The EASSY cable will be launched in June and will deliver high-speed, fiber-optic connectivity to nine landing stations and other African landlocked countries, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana. According to Kenya's Computerworld, EASSY will deliver connectivity to Europe via a direct route through the Red and Mediterranean Seas, reducing the time taken for traffic from Europe and North Africa to reach the East African coast and viceversa. The East African Submarine System (EASSy) comprises of a 10,000km submarine cable system along the east coast of Africa, with 9 landing stations in Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa.
