SAEx SOUTHERN OCEANS NETWORK (SON) …

A Truly Safe and Secure, East-West Solution, with Cape Town as the Next ‘Digital Global Hub’…

SAEx SON will provide a unique Southern Hemisphere east/west diverse path which:

• Avoids the complexities of the Red Sea, Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf
• Avoids the need to use lengthy terrestrial routes to cross Africa with their associated operational and security issues
• Offers a largely deep-water routing which includes only a single interconnection point at Cape Town, South Africa

Estimated Latencies:

• Singapore to East Coast USA via Cape Town ~242 ms
• Singapore to FTZA ~192ms
• Singapore to São Paulo ~ 228ms

SAEx EAST – (Phase One)

SAEx East is the first phase to be built and will cross the Indian Ocean connecting two end points, Cape Town in South Africa, and Singapore, with auxiliary landings at Amanzimtoti (Durban), Reunion, and Mauritius. Cape Town and Amanzimtoti will provide the potential for interconnection with Equiano, 2Africa and other regional systems.

The core trunk between Singapore and South Africa will be prioritised. Stubbed BUs will allow connection as appropriate to additional strategic markets (including India), once identified customers commit. The Network will serve ≥50% of the world’s population via the Singapore Gateway, with fewer interconnect points, thus reducing costs, and offering Asian customers a highly competitive route from Singapore to South Africa and the Americas

SAEx East provides:

• An Express path connecting South Africa to Singapore
• Providing Improved connectivity for Indian Ocean islands
• Enabling Enhanced Indian Ocean diversity restoration opportunities

Estimated Latencies:

• Singapore to Cape Town ~117 ms
• Singapore to Durban ~98ms
• Singapore to Mauritius ~70ms

CAPE TOWN (CT) TO SINGAPORE (SNG)

SAEx WEST – (Phase Two)

SAEx West, will be the focus of Phase 2, starting approximately 3 months after the CIF of SAEx East. As planned, SAEx West will cross the South Atlantic from Cape Town to Fortaleza, Brazil, and end at Virginia Beach, in the USA.

SAEx West provides:

• A direct express path from South Africa to the Americas
• Improved connectivity potential for South Atlantic islands
• Creates an opportunity for resilient mesh networks in support of other South Atlantic systems

Estimated Latencies:

• Cape Town to Fortaleza ~ 75ms
• Cape Town to São Paulo ~111ms
• Cape Town to Virginia Beach ~134ms
• Cape Town to New York City ~135ms

VIRGINIA BEACH (VB) TO CAPE TOWN (CT)

• SAEx provides a secure all subsea routing from the Indian Ocean and Asia to the Americas, avoiding geological and geopolitical hazards present on current paths. The South Atlantic shows greater geophysical stability than the Mediterranean, Far East and Pacific, while the western side of the Indian Ocean is much calmer seismically than the eastern Indian Ocean.
• SAEx uses a route through the geologically safe and ‘peaceful’ South Atlantic and Indian Oceans with physical separation from established transit hubs and known geological hazards that occur on existing paths.
• SAEx provides an all subsea route from Indian Ocean network nodes in the Gulf Region, India and East Asia to South America and the USA. To the extent possible, SAEx avoids narrow straits and transits through potentially unstable areas and unreliable overland transit networks.
• SAEx will provide the only secure subsea connectivity between cable systems on the east and west coasts of Africa.