JOHANNESBURG , South Africa ( CNN ) -- An undersea cable plugging east Africa into high speed Internet access went live Thursday , providing an alternative to expensive satellite connections . The cable links southern Africa to Europe and Asia . SEACOM , the cable provider company , opened its 17,000 kilometer submarine cable , capable of 1.28 terabytes per second , allowing the region true connectivity . Most Africans rely on expensive and slow satellite connections , which make the use of applications such as YouTube and Facebook extremely trying . `` This is going to reduce the cost of doing business in Africa , within Africa and with international parties '' said Suveer Ramdhani , SEACOM spokesman in South Africa . `` The cable is as thin as a hair strand , and in one second it can download the same amount of data that 160 people use in a month . '' SEACOM , privately funded and 75 percent African owned , will provide retail carriers with open source access to inexpensive bandwidth . It has taken less than three years to complete the mammoth project , providing landing stations at South Africa , Kenya , Madagascar and other points along the east coast of Africa . But telecoms analyst James Hodge said that some of the more ambitious hopes for the system -- such as impacting the continent 's socioeconomic problems -- will be long-term , and that initially it will be those already connected who will see the benefits . The launch was delayed by a month because of increased activity by pirates along parts of the African coast . Security teams were beefed up to protect the slow moving cable layers . Neotel , a South African communications network operator , is the largest SEACOM customer in South Africa and is the country 's landing partner , providing both the coastal landing station and Johannesburg data center for the submarine cable . Neotel managing director Ajay Pandey is excited about the opportunities for growth presented by the SEACOM cable . `` With this cable coming in , the pipe size opens up , so more and more people are able to get faster and better connectivity , hopefully at a lower price . It ca n't be more expensive than what it is today . '' SEACOM Chief Executive Officer Brian Herlihy added : `` Turning the switch 'on ' creates a huge anticipation , but ultimately , SEACOM will be judged on the changes that take place on the continent over the coming years . '' South Africa has been hobbled by high costs and extremely slow bandwidth , effectively keeping the country on an information back road rather then the superhighway . There is much anticipation and hope that the cable will ensure Africa keeps up with the developed world in Internet connectivity , providing greater speed , flexibility and , potentially , a complete socioeconomic transformation . Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said in his opening address : `` It 's the ultimate embodiment of modernity . '' His speech was beamed via SEACOM from a launch in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania , to the simultaneous launch in Johannesburg , South Africa .
Undersea SEACOM cable links southern and east Africa to Europe , Asia . System provides cheaper alternative to satellite connections . 17,000 km cable capable of 1.28 terabytes per second . SEACOM spokesman : This is going to reduce the cost of doing business .