SEACOM celebrates its 13th birthday

After 13 years of digitally transforming the African continent, SEACOM celebrates its corporate anniversary. With fibre connectivity in major African cities and a continent-wide information and communications technology (ICT) network, SEACOM has matured into one of the biggest telecommunications and connectivity companies on the continent.

Since its inception, SEACOM has rapidly expanded, diversifying its product and service offerings to make this privately-owned company the partner of choice for enterprises throughout South Africa and the rest of the continent. To celebrate SEACOM’s 13th birthday, we take a step back to reflect on how we have evolved as a company and our achievements to date.

Connectivity in Africa with SEACOM

SEACOM brought fibre internet to Africa. On 23 July 2009, Africa’s first broadband subsea cable went live. The 17 000 kilometre long SEACOM cable connects Africa to Europe and Asia with high speed internet access. With cable landing stations dotted along the Eastern and Southern African coast, the SEACOM cable marked a turning point for connectivity in Africa.

After SEACOM established its first Point of Presence (PoP) in Teraco Isando (Johannesburg) in 2011, connectivity in South Africa further improved. SEACOM’s first PoP ushered in a new era of internet speeds, with lower latency and improved performance. Upgrades to SEACOM’s subsea network took place in 2013 and 2018. The latest upgrade brought a capacity of 1.5Tbps.

SEACOM South Africa: Products and Services

With the necessary infrastructure in place, SEACOM branched out to offer more products and services. Apart from enterprise-grade connectivity, SEACOM offers cyber security, cloud solutions and wholesale services. With tailor-made solutions and product offerings, large enterprises can lower costs and improve performance with bespoke connectivity, cloud and security solutions.

Connectivity in South Africa

According to the World Bank, the number of South Africans using the internet has grown exponentially since 2009. Current stats indicate that 80% of the total population are active internet users and this is expected to reach 90% by 2027. So far this year, 47 million South Africans have accessed the internet.

South African internet traffic has grown by 442 000% in the last decade. This massive increase is largely attributed to the demand for high-definition videos. Video streaming and web-conferencing are characteristic of the Covid-19 pandemic. Demand for ultra-high speed connectivity is set to continue with the rollout of Industry 4.0 in South Africa.

E-commerce doubled between 2018 and 2020 and more South Africans are online than ever before. This has had a positive impact on the economy, supporting growth and socio-economic upliftment. Internet access is crucial, and South Africa needs to continue to work on digital literacy to support inclusive growth and bridge the digital divide.

13 years of SEACOM

• 2009 - SEACOM goes live in South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Djibouti after its first subsea cable is connected to Asia and Europe.
• 2010 - Internet Protocol (IP) services launched, providing internet connectivity for customers.
• 2011 - SEACOM establishes point of presence (PoP) in Teraco Isando; Africa’s largest data centre.
• 2012 - SEACOM’s West Africa Cable System (WACS) goes live, providing a redundant cable ring around Africa.
• 2013 - SEACOM upgrades its submarine network capacity to boost internet connectivity on the continent. SEACOM also gives 100Mbps internet access to four innovation hubs in Nairobi, Kenya.
• 2014 - SEACOM establishes PoP in Uganda.
• 2015 - SEACOM Business is established in South Africa to provide numerous IT services to companies.
• 2016 - SEACOM adds peering points in Europe and Africa to boost the customer’s internet experience. It also establishes PoP in Rwanda and launches SEACOM Business in Kenya
• 2017 - SEACOM launches PoP in Botswana and acquires MacroLan to extend fibre reach in South Africa.
• 2018 - SEACOM upgrades the Subsea Cable System to 1.5Tbps and acquires FibreCo, completing the ‘African Ring’ with 3500km of trans-South African fibre.
• 2019 - SEACOM provides the first 100G international service to a customer between South Africa and Europe. SEACOM Business is launched in Uganda.
• 2020 - SEACOM South Africa launches WonderNet, an internet service provider (ISP) that offers fibre to the home.
• 2021 - SEACOM acquires Hirani telecom’s Metro Fibre Network in Nairobi. This allowed the company to grow its on-net capabilities.
• 2022 - SEACOM is set to acquire EOH Network Solutions to diversify its delivery of enterprise and managed service solutions across Africa.

Digital solutions for South African enterprises

SEACOM has been a key player in digitally transforming South Africa. Economic growth and resilience is closely connected to high-speed, always-on internet. As a pioneer of innovative digital infrastructure, cloud and security solutions, SEACOM celebrates 13 years of connectivity in South Africa. For more information or to get a quote for our cyber security solutions, email us at marketing@seacom.com or leave us a message.

SEACOM owns Africa’s most extensive network of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, including subsea cables and secure internet connections. We offer a diverse range of flexible, scalable and high-quality solutions for businesses that meet world-class standards for connectivity.

SEACOM is privately owned and operated, making it agile and adaptable to the needs of the customer. This makes us the preferred ICT and internet connectivity partner for African businesses and peripheral service providers. We can guarantee high-speed, low-latency and secure internet connections to corporates and small enterprises.

For‌ ‌more‌ ‌information‌ ‌on‌ our internet and voice solutions, ‌follow‌ ‌us‌ ‌on‌ ‌‌LinkedIn‌,‌ ‌‌Facebook‌ ‌or‌ ‌‌Twitter.‌ ‌Keep‌ ‌an‌ ‌eye‌ ‌on‌ ‌our‌ ‌‌news‌ ‌section‌‌ ‌for‌ ‌insightful‌ ‌articles‌ and relevant news stories on African ICT, internet connectivity and our leading cloud and security solutions.

Need internet for your home? Our subsidiary, WonderNet, brings fast and cost-effective broadband internet to all Africans with a fibre-to-the-home offering.