The governments of Brazil, China, Russia, India and SA have agreed to support a new, R3bn (USD 452 million) undersea cable that will connect Brazil with SA and Angola, and provide the region with onward connectivity to the US and Asia.

The South Atlantic Express (SAex) cable system, which will have an initial design capacity of 12,8Tbit/s, will connect SA and Angola to Fortaleza in Brazil, from where it will provide onward links to other countries in the America, including the US. SAex’s backers have signed a memorandum of understanding to connect to the 22,000km-long GlobeNet system between South America and North America.

Leaders of Brazil, China, Russia, India and SA – the so-called Brics countries – agreed at a summit this week to give the project their backing. The Brics nations won’t invest directly in the system’s construction. SA was recently admitted as a member of this club of powerful emerging economies.

Through Seacom – the cable system along Africa’s east coast – SAex will provide onward connectivity to India and then to other Asian countries, including China, using various cables in South-East Asia. Planning for the system, which is expected to be available for commercial use in June 2013, is at an advanced stage.

Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co, a joint venture between the government of China and France’s Alcatel-Lucent, will build the cable. The project’s construction and maintenance agreement should be signed next month, with a marine survey to follow not long thereafter.

SAex will consist of four fibre pairs, each capable of carrying 3,2Tbit/s of data using 40Gbit/s wavelength technology. Two fibre pairs – with a combined design capacity of 6,4Tbit/s – will be extended to SA from an undersea branching unit, with another two fibre pairs likely to be extended to Angola.

Assuming that cable goes ahead in that configuration, it will be the highest-capacity cable to serve the SA market. Alternative systems under construction – the West African Cable System (Wacs) and the Africa Coast to Europe (Ace) project – have design capacities of 5,1Tbit/s each. Ace and Wacs will run along Africa’s west coast, from SA to Europe.