[Kictanet] Ethiopia on International Optical Fibre!!!!!

[Brian Longwe]

Hi all,

You may not believe this but I am sitting in Addis right now and  
seeing latency of 120ms on a ping to BBC in the UK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) did a  
deal with Sudan to get access by extending the national fibre optic  
between two towns close to the border. Interestingly enough this came  
about after another project to link Ethiopia via Eritrea stalled due  
to cross-border negotiations.

At an estimated project cost of approx US$690,000 the country now has  
fairly good internet connectivity. The project was initiated in  
February this year and completed by August with 34 Mbps from Verizon.  
An invitation for bids to provide 155Mbps (STM-1) was also launched  
at the same time.

This is a v. good example of how terrestrial networks can provide a  
quick alternative means of providing international connectivity.

Regards,

Brian