Previously unable to come to terms over a single submarine fiber-optic cable, Kenya now announces how it will sport three. Hm..
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Country Ready to Go Three Ways On Cable
Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown)
January 23, 2007 By Rebecca Wanjiku
Geneva
allafrica.com
The cost of international broadband is set to drastically reduce within 18 months after the Kenyan government confirmed that it is ready to adopt three different under sea cables provided through various routes. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communication said that Kenya was taking a three-pronged approach calculated to reduce the cost of international connectivity. Priority is given to the East African Marine System (Teams), the fiber optic cable link to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ndemo confirmed that by the end of January, the government will have received a feasibility study from an American consultant and a lead financial arranger appointed.
"The lead arranger will take over the private/public TEAMS project and will be in charge of financial sourcing. We expect to be done within 18 months," said Ndemo. Under the Teams agreement, the Kenya Government will have a 40 per cent holding in the project, Etisalat of UAE will hold 20% and the remaining 40% will go to investors in the East African region. The Government has said it will organise an Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the Kenyan Stock Exchange.
According to John Waweru, Director General at the Communication Commission of Kenya, the Teams project is expected to recover the costs within three years. Kenya is still pursuing the controversial East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) an initiative aimed at constructing and operating a submarine fiber optic cable along the East African Coast. EASSy will connect nine coastal countries and island nations and to the rest of the world.
The route will be from South Africa to Port Sudan, covering over 9,000 km, connecting Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania (including Zanzibar). Thirty-two leading telecommunications operators from East and Southern Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in December 2003 to carry out the construction and maintenance of EASSy. But the project was dogged by controversy over whether NEPAD should take the overall leadership or the leadership should be led by the private sector.
Terrestrial backbone networks are also being built in separate developments to link all capitals and major cities in Eastern and Southern Africa to the EASSy cable and the international backbone system. The third international fiber project is fronted by Kenya Data Network (KDN) and which has now signed its contract with Flag Telecom. KDN will link from Mombasa and terminate in an undersea junction in international waters off the Yemen. KDN says the link will be fully operational in the first quarter of 2008, just 15 months away. KDN also stresses that its landing station at Mombasa will allow other carriers to co-locate therefore charging only electricity and services at a cost.
According to the PS, the three options are meant to make Kenya competitive in the provision of international broadband. Ndemo underscored the need for the country to compete internationally and attract international businesses. He argued that the broadband purchased by international businessmen at a cost of USD 200, costs USD 7,500 in Kenya, therefore ruling the country out as an internet investment destination.
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