[Kictanet] Fw: [Fibre-for-africa] Article from HANA

[alice at apc.org]

 Submarine Fiber-optic Cable Connectivity in the Balance
>
> HANA, 30 May 2006.
>
> Efforts to complete the encircling of Africa by a modern submarine fiber
> optic telecommunication could suffer a major blow if the parties involved
> fail to reach an agreement in the near future. By: Alari Alare Kenneth
>
> starts/
>
> Efforts to complete the encircling of Africa by a modern submarine fiber
> optic telecommunication cable could suffer a major blow if the parties
> involved fail to reach an agreement in the near future.
>
> Following the successful implementation of SAT-3/WASC/SAFE, providing
> high
> quality and high bandwidth telecommunications services to Western and
> Southern Africa, and with Northern Africa served by a number of other
> submarine cable systems, the next logical step is to provide the East
> Coast of Africa with submarine fiber-optic cable connectivity. This will
> complete the encircling of Africa by a modern submarine fiber optic
> telecommunications network.
>
> However, this could be hampered by a few factors at play, one being that
> the project is a joint initiative between governments and private telcos
> including the incumbents in participating countries.
>
> EASSy is expected to establish an undersea cable system to connect the
> region with the rest of the world. EASSy should be commercially viable to
> provide the owners with opportunities to benefit directly from the
> international traffic.
>
> It is anticipated that by the time fiber cable lands at the coastal city
> of Mombasa in Kenya, a backhaul (local) transmission link will have been
> laid to further link Uganda through Malaba.
>
> According Peter K Kenduiywo Telkom Kenya, linking the hinterland will
> through the East Africa Digital Transmission System (EADTS) forming the
> Kenya ? Uganda backhaul (local) transmission link.
>
> "The basic EADTS configuration is a SDH transmission system, from
> Mombasa to Malaba through Nairobi with Spurs to major towns within the
> country", he said.
>
>>From Mombasa, it will pass through towns including Voi, Mtito-Andei,
> Nairobi, Longonot, Naivasha, Nakuru, Kericho, Timboroa, Eldoret,
> Muhoroni, Kisumu, Bungoma and finally Malaba to link Uganda.
>
> However, the project's groundbreaking, which was scheduled for March
> this year, is yet to take place with well-placed sources saying that the
> slim financial base is casting dark clouds over the completion of the huge
> project.
>
> The consortium has so far raised only US$ 110 million out of the
> required US$ 290 to stay on schedule. This due to the fact that some of
> the members in consortium are state owned incumbent telcos struggling to
> stay afloat while others heavily depend on their cash strapped governments
> for financing.
>
> The other issue posing a lot of challenge to the success of the project is
> the model of ownership. While one group is pushing for open access on
> grounds of affordability, another group is pushing for a closed model
> arguing that the project should be operated fully as a commercial venture.
>
> While giving his views to Hana, Joseph Mucheru, the immediate former
> chairman of the Telecommunications Service Providers of Kenya (TESPOK)
> and
> a director with the biggest Internet Service Provider in Kenya, Wananchi
> Online told us that EASSy should be run like a business entity, "Am not
> entirely sure about the whole definitions of Open or Closed access,
> stakeholders better adopt an hybrid model. This is because I think profits
> are important for the sustainability of any business/project and unless
> this services will be provided for free it is important to ensure a
> business model is adopted and not just a social model", said Mucheru.
>
> However, an industry player and a member of the WGIG (Working Group on
> Internet Governance) ahead of last year's WSIS Waundo Siganga also the
> chairman of the Computer of Kenya has shown his support for the Open
> Access model, "EASSy should adopt an Open Access Model so that all
> investors have equal opportunity and rights". He adds that the World Bank
> should be involved as a debt financier to the project.
>
> Debate is currently raging as to whether EASSy should be built along an
> Open Access model, or should be closely controlled by the operators and
> investors that will inject funds in it. The view of the World Bank, which
> is eager to provide loan financing to the cable system, is that EASSy will
> deliver better value to users in Eastern and Southern Africa if it is
> built and run along the Open Access model.
>
> The World Bank has said it wants the cable to be accessible to anybody who
> is not an investor in EASSy, but in future wants to use the cable. It says
> those operators should access the EASSy system at rates and terms
> comparable to those at which investors in EASSy access it.
>
> Under the Open Access model, EASSy would be owned by a Special
> Purpose
> Vehicle (SPV), meaning a company that would sell bandwidth to whoever
> wants to buy it. This SPV would not offer telecoms services as that would
> place it an advantage compared to other users of the EASSy bandwidth.
>
> The MoU partners reject this argument. Instead, they propose that new
> operators intending to benefit from the cable should invest in it too.
>
> At one point, Mucheru posed, "The World Bank involvement in what way. And
> to serve what purpose, as a bank they can either give loans or grants, and
> it is not clear to me what the funding mechanism the consortium has chosen
> and therefore cannot answer this question."
>
> He adds: "EASSy should be a business like any other and be allowed to have
> competitors. This is the only way to ensure the regions benefits and does
> not support another monopoly model, it can be an expensive mistake".
>
> What about Nepads involvement; "Nepad should not be responsible for
> developing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) managing the financing
> process. They should also not be involved in choosing board members for
> the EASSy SPV", says Waundo who sat on the Working Group on Internet
> Governance.
>
> A group of big telecommunication firms are pushing for the Sat 3 model
> whose monopolist structure has not helped kept the cost of
> telecommunication down in the west and southern African region.
>
> While the battle on the model continues, Kenya Data Network (KDN) who is
> also one the consortium members is busy laying out fiber optic in Kenya
> hoping that by the time EASSy lands in Mombasa, they would have
> completed
> the project that should see fiber optic link between the port of Mombasa
> traversing through Kenya's hinterland all the way to Kenya Uganda border.
>
> Source: Highway Africa News Agency <http://hana.ru.ac.za/>  (Free
> subscription is required).
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director
> Association for Progressive Communications
> anriette at apc.org
> http://www.apc.org
> PO Box 29755, Melville, South Africa. 2109
> Tel. 27 11 726 1692
> Fax 27 11 726 1692
>
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