earth science

West Indian Ocean Cable Company

West Indian Ocean Cable Company is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand West Indian Ocean Cable Company rather than just read about it. In short: West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) operates as a wholesaler, providing capacity to international telecoms, cloud operators, content providers and internet service providers within and out of Africa. WIOCC offers carriers connectivity to over 550 locations across 30 African countries – utilising more than 75,000 km (47,000 mi) of terrestrial fibre and 200,000 km (120,000 mi) of submarine fibre-optic cable.

Key takeaways

West Indian Ocean Cable Company belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect West Indian Ocean Cable Company to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of West Indian Ocean Cable Company from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) operates as a wholesaler, providing capacity to international telecoms, cloud operators, content providers and internet service providers within and out of Africa. WIOCC offers carriers connectivity to over 550 locations across 30 African countries – utilising more than 75,000 km (47,000 mi) of terrestrial fibre and 200,000 km (120,000 mi) of submarine fibre-optic cable. WIOCC's international network reach currently extends to 100 cities in 29 countries in Europe and more than 700 cities in 70 countries globally. The company was established in 2008 and is jointly owned by 14 major African telecom operators, with support from five international development financial institutions: International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB), French Development Bank (AFD), German Development Bank (KfW) and European Investment Bank (EIB). WIOCC's CEO (from October 2008 – Present) is Chris Wood. WIOCC is registered in the Republic of Mauritius with offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Shareholders WIOCC is jointly owned by African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading African-focused investment firm, International Finance Corporation (IFC) the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries and 10 major African telcos, all leading operators in their respective markets. The telcos are;

Network

Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) WIOCC is the largest shareholder in EASSy owning 28% of the capacity, a >10 Tbit/s capacity submarine fibre-optic cable system interconnecting nine countries along the eastern seaboard to the rest of the world. Circuits on EASSy can be protected against cable breaks and equipment failures by choosing its ‘in system protection’ option, which reroutes affected traffic onto the EASSy collapsed ring in the event of failure. The cable landing points are:

Port Sudan, Sudan Djibouti Mogadishu, Somalia Mombasa, Kenya Moroni, Comoros Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Toliary, Madagascar Maputo, Mozambique Mtunzini, South Africa

Through strategic investments in several major international submarine cables into Africa, the overall WIOCC network forms a ‘ring’ around Africa. These cables include:

Europe India Gateway (EIG) EIG is a 15,000 km with a design capacity of 28 Tbit/s connecting Africa's northern seaboard to Europe, the Middle East and India WIOCC has made a strategic investment in EIG to secure high capacity, high-speed onward connectivity from Djibouti for EASSy.

West Africa Cable System (WACS) WACS is the largest submarine cable on Africa's western seaboard, with a design capacity of 14.5 Tbit/s and the largest submarine cable on Africa's western seaboard linking South Africa with the United Kingdom WIOCC has made a strategic investment in WACS. Circuits on WACS can be protected against cable breaks and equipment failures by choosing its ‘in system protection’ option, which reroutes affected traffic onto an alternative fibre pair in the event of a failure.

Telecom Egypt North (TE North) TE North is a submarine telecommunications cable linking France and Egypt, a 3,100 km long with a capacity of up to 1.28 Tbit/s over 8 fibre pairs.

South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) SEA-ME-WE 5 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications approximately 20,000 kilometres long with a design capacity of 24 Terabits per second between Singapore and France. As well as serving Africa's coastal regions, WIOCC's terrestrial network links to these and other submarine fibre-optic cables and enables businesses and individuals in landlocked countries - such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda to take advantage of cost-effective international connectivity.

Equiano Equiano is owned by Google and named after Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano. Running a total of 15,000 km from Portugal along the African west coast, Equiano will be one of the largest cables serving Africa, with 12 fibre pairs delivering a total of 144 Tbit/s of capacity. WIOCC is a key partner in Equiano, landing the cable in Lagos, Nigeria, and owning a full fibre pair on the system.

2Africa 2Africa is 180 terabits per second (Tbit/s) 45,000 kilometres, making it the longest subsea cable system ever deployed. The 2Africa consortium comprises China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC. WIOCC is a key partner in 2Africa, landing the cable in Amanimtoti, KwaZulu- Natal, and owning a full fibre pair on the system.

See also EASSy WACS (cable system) EIG (cable system)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with West Indian Ocean Cable Company

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what West Indian Ocean Cable Company claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to West Indian Ocean Cable Company before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about West Indian Ocean Cable Company ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of West Indian Ocean Cable Company

In research: West Indian Ocean Cable Company appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses West Indian Ocean Cable Company in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: West Indian Ocean Cable Company is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Internet in Africa, Submarine communications cables in the Indian Ocean, Telecommunications in Africa, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for West Indian Ocean Cable Company outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study West Indian Ocean Cable Company in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what West Indian Ocean Cable Company means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain West Indian Ocean Cable Company out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is West Indian Ocean Cable Company in simple terms?

Why does West Indian Ocean Cable Company matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study West Indian Ocean Cable Company?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on West Indian Ocean Cable Company.