Johannesburg, April 16 India's Tata Communications on Thursday said they had joined a global consortium to build a $600-million cable system to extend faster international connectivity to countries in Africa at cheaper tariff.

The network, expected to be ready by 2011, will cover South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the two Congos, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Portugal and Britain, a company statement said.

The contract for the 14,000 km system was awarded to Alcatel-Lucent Sumbarine Networks. Associated companies include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable and Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia and Portugal Telecom, besides the Tata firm.

Technically named the West African Cable System, the fibre optic submarine network will provide 3.84 terabits per second of bandwidth, with points of landing, or global gateways, at in four countries.

Tata Communications is part of the $62.5 billion diversified industrial house, India's largest, with interests in a wide range of industries including auto, chemicals, telecom, information technology and consumer goods.