Main One and Seacom have interconnected their West and East African cable systems, the companies announced. This partnership extends the Main One and Seacom networks to create a system that offers connection between any Seacom and Main One point-of-presence all around Africa between South Africa and Nigeria.

Funke Opeke, Main One CEO, explained: "While efforts to implement a physical cable between Nigeria and South Africa continue, we have joined our cables together in Europe to satisfy many of our customers’ immediate requirements for capacity between Nigeria and South Africa."

As with the Main One and Seacom cables themselves, the joint solution is provided on an open-access basis and is immediately available, providing customers with a timing advantage ahead of the completion of other planned systems around the African continent.

"We hold the view that a ring-type system around the entire continent is the best way to attain adequate redundancy whilst offering customers a comprehensive connectivity solution. The announcement today shows our determination to find a viable way to extend our system with partners who share our vision to build the African internet," said Brian Herlihy, Seacom CEO.

The Main One cable system stretches from Portugal to Nigeria, with an extension completed to South Africa. It currently boasts 1.28Tb/s connection speeds.

The Seacom cable system was launched in late 2009 and is responsible for the big drop in internet data costs in South Africa. This cable also boasts 1.28Tb/s speeds, although it has been plagued by outages, mainly due to partner cables.