The arrival of three of four new undersea cables in South Africa over the next year to 24 months should usher in a new period of increased telecoms connectivity in the country, said Ajay Pandey, the boss of new telecoms operator Neotel.

Speaking at the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers, Pandey said internet services are set to become much more user friendly with the arrival of the new cables, which will lower the cost of international connectivity and boost bandwidth.

“The prices of accessing Internet, the speeds at which people would be accessing the Internet - I think that would be that much more consumer friendly,” said Pandey, as reported on Engineering News Online.

Pandey noted that SEACOM, which is due to launch next month, and subsequent cables such as WACS and EASSy, could trigger a new wave of growth in the IT and BPO industries.

Neotel is the only company in South African telecoms industry that has a link in each of the four submarine cables that will connect with South Africa.