The WACS is one of several undersea cables to connect Africa to other continents, including Seacom, the EASSY project, TEAMS, SAT-3, Maine One as well as the recently launched Glo 1.

Glo 1 is a 9,800-kilometer-long cable that launched earlier this month in Ghana. Meanwhile, the Main One cable system in March deployed Cisco's IP Next- Generation Network (IP NGN) in an effort to provide secure and high-bandwidth network capacity for governments and global enterprise customers in West Africa. Main One switched on its 7,000-kilometer submarine fiber-optic cable system linking West Africa to Europe in July 2010.

Seacom is a big competitor that has strategically positioned itself for competition by launching a new IP platform project involving the designing, deployment and operation of nine land-based Internet exchange points, which would store popular Web content closer to where the Internet is accessed by users in various regions. This will enable a richer and faster browsing experience to end users, according to Seacom Products Strategy head Suveer Ramdani.

Over the past year, competition in the region's broadband market has intensified and has forced down wholesale prices. ISPs and mobile operators have in turn been able to significantly reduce prices.

MTN is the largest single shareholder in WACS, with a $90 million investment in the $650 million cable. WACS is funded by a consortium of operators including Portugal Telecom, Angola Cable, Telecom South Africa and Telecom Namibia.