Short answer
FirstNet reroutes the traffic automatically over other paths. It has capacity on seven or more undersea cable systems, such as WACS, EASSy, SEACOM and 2Africa.
In detail
Cable breaks are a repeat risk for South Africa's international links, because that traffic relies on only a few subsea systems. How FirstNet reduces the risk:
- Cable diversity: capacity on seven or more systems, so one break does not cut off international reach.
- Automatic rerouting: if a cable is cut or a region is congested, traffic moves to other paths.
- Multi-peer transit at global hubs such as LINX London, New York, Frankfurt and Singapore.
- Contention limits: on business fibre, international contention is capped at 1:4 at most, and only during undersea cable failures.
Local traffic is protected in a different way. FirstNet peers directly at NAPAfrica, JINX, CINX and DINX. So traffic to South African services stays in the country and does not rely on international routes. FirstNet was also the first client on the 2Africa cable's Durban to Cape Town segment. This subsea route avoids fibre cuts and vandalism on land.
Where international performance is critical, Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) adds dedicated 1:1 contention on international traffic.
Source: FirstNet National Footprint & Global Reach service page →
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