No concrete decision is expected on the construction of the $1.2-billion undersea broadband cable that would link Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with each other and the US at the BRICS summit in Durban later this week.
The South African promoters ? Imphandze Subtel Services , a subsidiary of Imphandze Investments ? will have to wait as a green signal is not expected at the summit. Speaking to FE, Oliver Stuenkel, assistant professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in S?o Paulo, said: ?I think this is a long-term project and further analysis will be necessary to see when it can be started,. I don’t expect much on this topic at the summit.”
Government officials in New Delhi have feigned ignorance over the existence of the project.
The BRICS cable project was reportedly launched in April 2012 following a positive reception at the summit in New Delhi in March 2012.
The cost of 34,000 -km-long fibre-optic cable, with 12.8 terabits per second capacity, could vary between $750 million and $1.2 billion and depends on the optimal combination of build and buy of segments as determined by the capacity requirements of investors.
Reportedly, in the interests of a more commercially attractive and viable system, the project promoters are investigating a number of possible scenarios that involve different combinations of i) greenfields built from critical segments and ii) buying (or leasing) of capacity on existing systems.
The mammoth nature of the project can be ascertained from the fact that once completed, the cable, stretching from Vladivostok in Russia to Miami in the US, will be the third-longest undersea telecommunications cable in the world. Through the cable, the original BRIC members of the grouping will be able to establish a two-way avenue with 21 African countries currently using those systems. This in turn will enhance the scope of trade and economic ties between BRICS and Africa.
In the process, the cable project will also inevitably lead to a tremendous rise in the stature of South Africa within Africa as South Africa would emerge as a gateway between BRICS and the African continent.
Reportedly, Axiom and Terabit Consulting ? two leading global consulting firms in the submarine cable industry ? carried out the market, traffic and commercial feasibility studies, while Alcatel-Lucent ? the leading provider of turnkey submarine cable systems networks ? carried out the technical feasibility study.