Intelvision & Vodafone Partnering for 2Africa Branch

By Isaac K. Kassouwi, Ecofin Agency
June 15, 2022

(Ecofin Agency) – The demand for broadband connectivity is accelerating in the Seychelles. The government and telecom operators are investing in strengthening the national telecom infrastructure to support the digital transformation of the economy.

Seychelles telecommunications operator Intelvision plans to introduce a new cable system in Seychelles. The company has signed a partnership agreement with the British giant Vodafone for this purpose. Scheduled to last 15 years, the cooperation between the two operators is supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is financing the project to the tune of 20 million USD.

The project, we learn, will facilitate connectivity between the Seychelles and the future 2Africa fiber optic submarine cable network of Meta (ex-Facebook) which will be deployed in the second half of 2023. With a capacity provided of more than 600 Gb /s of international bandwidth, the new cable system will complement the existing Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS). The agreement will also allow Intelvision to provide 4G and 5G mobile networks across Mahé, the largest island in the archipelago, and all other inner islands.

This announcement comes three months after Seychelles connected to the Pakistan East Africa Cable Express (PEACE), its second infrastructure of its kind after the SEAS in 2011. These various investments reflect the efforts made by the government to limit the negative impact of the pandemic on the local economy and accelerate recovery by focusing on the digital economy.

For Mukesh Valabhji (photo), Chairman and CEO of Intelvision, the new cable will revolutionize the Internet experience in Seychelles and strengthen the local telecommunications infrastructure. Ultimately, this collaboration should reduce connectivity costs for national telecommunications operators and populations, as well as stimulate competition for fixed broadband and mobile data services.