Appleby acted as Seychelles counsel to African Development Bank in its €8.4m loan to Seychelles Cable Systems Company Limited and the associated security package, for the development of the Seychelles Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System.
Internet connectivity in the Seychelles is set to be significantly enhanced during the course of 2012 thanks to the arrival this week of the Seychelles Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System, an undersea fibre optic cable system connecting the countries of eastern Africa to the rest of the world. The system replaces the existing satellite connection. The 2000km cable links the Seychelles directly to a landing station in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from where other international fibre systems can be accessed.
This is a significant development for the Seychelles. The increased bandwidth and stability that will result from the arrival of the Seychelles Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System is expected to significantly enhance the Seychelles' offshore financial services offering and pave the way for an inf lux of other business sectors for which internet connectivity has proved a barrier to entry to date.
The project is a joint venture between the Government of Seychelles, Cable & Wireless (Seychelles) Limited and Airtel (Seychelles) Limited and has been funded in part by equity from the joint venture partners and development loans from African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank.
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