Alcatel-Lucent has bagged a $500 million contract for laying a 17,000 km submarine cable network linking South Africa to France. Alcatel-Lucent has signed the contract with a consortium of 20 telecom operators to provide the cable network. The cable link, which will connect Cape Town in South Africa to Penmarch in France, will be responsible for bringing extra-fast broadband to the African continent from Europe. Commercial services on this cable network are likely to be launched in 2012.
