In November Seychelles Cable Systems (SCS)-a special purpose vehicle set up by the government and the archipelago's two operators, Cable and Wireless and Airtel-signed a US$30m contract with a French telecoms infrastructure company, Alcatel, to lay a 1,900-km submarine fibre optic cable between Victoria and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) cable-with a capacity of 320 gigabit-will link Seychelles to the global fibre-optic system for the first time and reduce dependence on costly satellite links (although these will be retained as back-up). The cable will greatly increase available bandwidth and reduce costs, leading to the faster uptake of high-end services (such as Internet TV and video streaming) and facilitating government services, e-health and e-commerce-thereby giving a boost to the wider economy. SEAS is expected to become operational in mid-2012. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that subscriber numbers continue to grow rapidly, making Seychelles one of the best-connected locations on the continent, with almost two mobile subscriptions for every resident on average. Mobile subscribers reached 159,701 in the third quarter of 2010 (up by 37% year on year) while fixed lines reached 28,676 (up by 12% year on year).