Kui Kinyanjui
1 April 2008
Nairobi — THE race to link Eastern Africa to the global network of highspeed Internet has moved into high gear with the start of work on a submarine fibre optic cable by one of the builders.
Last week, Alcatel Lucent, the French firm that won the contract to build the submarine fibre optic cable on the Indian Ocean coast under the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) initiative announced that it had started work ahead of the two privately-funded competitors.
Etienne Lafougère, the president of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network division said work on the EASSy cable had began and was expected to be completed in the first half of 2010.
National operator Telkom Kenya is among top investors in the project that is being financed by a consortium of 25 telecommunications operators with the support of five development finance institutions.
Last year, five major development institutions agreed to offer the project $70.7 million in long-term financing.
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector wing of the World Bank is financing the project to the tune of $18.2 million. Members of the consortium are expected to foot the remaining construction bill of $247.1 million.
"This is an important milestone toward implementation of the EASSy cable that is expected to transform the telecommunications landscape in the region," said Mohsen Khalil, the IFC Director for Global Information and Communication Technologies. The project is expected to provide Internet and other communications access for 250 million Africans and substantially reduce costs for consumers and businesses.
EASSy is competing against government-backed the East African Marine System (TEAMs) and private-sector led Seacom that are all racing to connect Kenya to the international fibre optic network. EASSy will run 10,000 kilometres from the continent's southern tip, around the African horn, and into the Red Sea, connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan.
The other two projects have the backing of a number of private companies in Kenya and in the region and are set for completion by end of 2009.
Intense competition for Eastern Africa's fibre optic market kicked off a storm last week following media reports that the government and industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), had abandoned its neutral stance and was tilting the ground in favour of TEAMs.
Controversy has also been raging over the recent signing of a new shareholding agreement for TEAMs. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, has however defended the process as "fully above board."
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