Nairobi — The connection of Kenya and eastern Africa to the rest of the world via the 17,000-km Seacom fibre optic cable on Friday was marked by excitement.
The promise of faster internet was greeted with sensational updates on popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook by those who had their first taste of real broadband.
"CNN Live TV loaded in 19 seconds flat... try satellite... how long does it take?" "Testing the Seacom fibre optic cable in Mombasa, and this is on steroids! Last time I had internet this fast, I was in Germany!", "Guys... the Internet revolution we have all been waiting for is about to go live...".
These were some of the comments in blogosphere by those who had sampled the good things to come as the undersea cable was commissioned in Kenya, South Africa, India, Tanzania and Mozambique simultaneously. However, Uunet Managing Director Tom Omariba said Kenyans will get their first taste of the wonders of the fibre optic cable from September.
He said Internet Service Providers require some time to test the cable before they can roll out the vastly improved access to their customers.
Recoup investments
While the speeds will definitely amaze, the cost will take time to drop in the drastic manner it has been predicted.
"The fibre optic cable is expensive to lay so service providers will initially serve areas they think have potential," he said.
On Thursday, Haskell Ward, Seacom's senior vice president in charge of government relations, speaking in Mombasa, warned the public that they have to wait a little longer for cheaper internet as industry players will first want to recoup their investments.
Seacom announced that it would offer wholesale prices in the range of Sh7,700 ($100) per megabyte, with subsidised costs of between Sh770 and Sh1,925 to schools, research and health institutions.
Bandwidth currently costs $5,000, about Sh42,350, per megabyte.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of the link to the rest of the world lies in the increased ability to download audio and video files from the internet, something that is bound to get Kenya's young generation excited.
This is also likely to expose Kenyans to criminals who use the Internet to hack into computers, spread computer viruses and access credit cards remotely. The increased ability to access harmful sites will also be a concern for parents.
Mr Cheruiyot Serem, a software developer, said the slow connection has been the main reason hackers have been unable to penetrate Kenya and the region but with the fibre optic cable, some firms might find themselves heavily exposed.
Wireless bandwidth
One area of growth is expected to be in the mobile telephony sector as operators will increase their wireless bandwidth.
This means that those using modems to connect at home need not worry about them becoming redundant as the service will also become faster.
A significant advantage of the fibre optic cable lies in its efficiency in the transmission of signals.
With VSat, the most common Internet connection in use in Kenya today, it takes between 600 and 700 milliseconds for a signal to travel from one earth station to a satellite and back to earth - described as a round trip.
The fibre optic cable reduces round trip time to less than 100 milliseconds, said Mr Serem, meaning that the chances of congestion are reduced to almost zero.
The benefits of fibre optic are three-fold: an increase in the bandwidth (a bigger pipe through which to feed pass data), a reduction of the round trip time and reduction of the chances of congestion.
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I live in Northern Mozambique and I cannot be as excited even though internet is some faster I think it a bit much too say it is like internet on steroids...
Faster internet? Don't be fooled. Administering quite a couple of internet websites, and spending an average of 16 hours every day on the net, only shows that (once again) we are paying more for less. But then, in South Africa, this is the norm (I type an average of 96 wpm, and in the words of the ISP I use, "man - you have a seriously strong card in your system - AND IT STILL TOOK 8.4 minutes to write this post.... For crying out loud - can the "powers that be wake up?)
For afric35 & krlvoster : Yes, broadband is like the internet on steroids, however if you are not getting the speeds you hoped for, there could be a number of things slowing you down. In order for one to gain the Maximum speed/benefits, then your connection has to be entirely via the newest generation infrastructure and computers. The most common reason for not getting the blinding speeds you expect is simply that part of the datas journey is being carried on older tech lines and/or servers. Say you wish to download a book from India. Your request goes into a top of the line server there, and in a few moments it arrives at your local ISP. If the ISPs still using old equipment, then the data can travel only as fast as that equipment will allow. Then it heads on down the line to you, but instead of travelling entirely via newest generation cable the entire way, it has to be carried on older phone lines, and again, it can only travel as fast as that technology will allow. Now maybe you lucked up & every part of the datas journey is on the newest fastest, equipment but unless you have a cable modem and a recent generation computer, it will only be received as fast as you equipment will allow. Its kind of like driving on different roads. When I go to visit friends that live a couple hundred miles north of here, the first half of the journey is on an interstate highway, so I go along at 70mph unimpeded. But the second half is on older state roads, where the speed limit varies between 35 and 55, along with stop signs, increased congestion, etc. Im sure that once you have the newer infrastructure in place, from one end to the other, you will enjoy it a lot ~ I sure do! Be Blessed!