The Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy) has recently undergone a significant upgrade, increasing its system capacity to 36Tbps through the deployment of Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optical technology. This enhancement ensures that EASSy remains capable of meeting the region’s escalating digital demands while maintaining cost-effective connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
With Ciena’s cutting-edge technology, EASSy has doubled its capacity from 18Tbps to 36Tbps, significantly increasing fiber capacity and reducing the transported cost per bit. Additionally, the upgrade enhances the overall efficiency of the system, enabling smarter, more efficient use of resources and better network performance.
The EASSy submarine cable network, operational since July 2010, spans 10,000km and connects nine countries with landing stations in Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa. Ciena’s Manage, Control, and Plan (MCP) domain controller further improves the network’s operational proficiency, reducing OPEX while adding service agility through automated, software-driven management.
The EASSy consortium, which consists of 18 members, including Djibouti Telecom, is 92% African-owned, with WIOCC being the largest shareholder. This collective ownership ensures that the system is a crucial part of Africa’s digital infrastructure, strengthening regional and global connectivity.
With this latest upgrade, EASSy is better positioned to meet future bandwidth demands, continuing to play a vital role in supporting Africa’s digital growth.