An increase in pirate activity during April and May has seen SEACOM's cable installation plans delayed from an initial ready-for-service date of 27 June to a revised date of 23 July.

The cable system's owners said on Wednesday that both in terms of intensity and geographical coverage, piracy necessitated a change in SEACOM's cable installation plans.

The planned route required the ship to transit an area of increased pirate activity where other ships had been attacked or seized.

The group said that cable deployment in the piracy-affected waters has since been completed and splicing to connect the section of cable from Mumbai to Africa was expected shortly.

Testing of the larger cable system is to be finalised shortly thereafter. The cable section from South Africa (Mtunzini) to Kenya (Mombasa), including all south and east African landing stations, has already undergone successful testing, according to SEACOM.

It added that it was working with its contractor, Tyco Telecommunications, to bring forward the ready for service date ahead of 23 July.

Brian Herlihy, SEACOM CEO, said: "Due to sensitivities around piracy issues, their impact on the project timeline was only fully established recently and while I am personally truly disappointed by the delay, it was imperative that strong measures be put in place to guarantee the successful completion of the cable system and the safety of the ship and its crews.

"This setback should however be seen against the Herculean efforts made by the team to see this project come to fruition over an incredibly tight schedule of only 18 months. We remain extremely excited and look forward to witnessing the huge difference that affordable, high-quality and plentiful bandwidth will have throughout eastern and southern Africa," Herlihy concluded.

I-Net Bridge