That’s the latest news on submarine cables that come near Africa.

I have read before that there was some buzz about the Seacom cable connecting Mauritius in 2009, and will offer even higher speed internet to our small island.

The BBC reports that the Seacom cable has gone live! What does this mean to Mauritius? Higher internet speed soon? Lower costs?

But first things first. Are we even connected to the cable? From the picture, it connects to the SAFE cable that connects to Mauritius. Does that mean we are connected? I haven’t heard any news about this. I’ve looked in the newspapers I have available, and haven’t found anything recently, unless I missed some small article somewhere.

The last I heard about Seacom cable was that it was having some troubles because of the pirates in the region. Nothing on Mauritius getting connected to it so far.

The most relevant article I found was from L’Express, dated 15 January 2009. It does mention that there are 5 submarine cables being laid in our region, and that we will “benefit” from those cables. There’s another article with nearly same content, again from L’Express, for those who want reading material.

For now, we’ll patiently wait for the next speed boost while keeping the price same.

What are your views on this matter? Do you think we’ll see any boost or benefit anytime soon?