FIFA's 2010 football World Cup official poster. South Africa was about to start work on a submarine fibre-optics cable linking the country to Europe ahead of hosting the football world cup in 2010, a government minister said Monday.

South Africa was about to start work on a submarine fibre-optics cable linking the country to Europe ahead of hosting the football world cup in 2010, a government minister said Monday.

The 15,000 kilometre (about 9,320 mile) cable linking the World Cup hosts with Europe and several west African countries along the coastline, would be completed in time for the 2010 football extravaganza, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri told journalists in Cape Town.

Costing billions of dollars, it would provide the required international bandwidth capacity to broadcast the games, to be hosted in Africa for the first time, to the rest of the world.

"The construction of the undersea submarine fibre-optic cable is expected to commence in the first half of 2008," said the minister.

"This ... is expected to provide accessible, affordable and reliable telecommunications to South Africa and the continent."

Matsepe-Casaburri said a similar undersea project was being planned along the African east coast to link South Africa with Asia, though it was not known when construction would start.

South African President Thabo Mbeki last week brushed off suggestions that a national electricity crisis would hamper the staging of the World Cup, which begins in less than 900 days' time as the country's ability to meet its construction deadlines is questioned.

© 2008 AFP