[kictanet] four players in the cable

[Rebecca Wanjiku]

FOUR PLAYERS IN THE CABLE


Its now
official, another company- Harakles Telecom LLC has commissioned Tyco to survey
the 13,000km East and South African coast.


Herakles awarded the SEACOM marine survey to Tyco
Telecommunications of USA.
The survey commences the development of the undersea
fiber optic network which will provide high capacity bandwidth connectivity between
South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Kenya, India
and Europe.


 


SEACOM becomes the fourth entrant to the scene with
questions being raised on whether the costs will come down and the time its
likely to take before we get the cable.


In February,
the government said the cost of international broadband is set to drastically
reduce within 18 months after it confirmed 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 fibre optic cable link to Fujairah
in the UAE. 


“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 fibre 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 of 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 cost.


According to
the PS, the three options are meant to make Kenya competitive in 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.


SEACOM now
gives industry players a chance to evaluate whether any of the operators will
lay the cable, then the debate can start over its efficacy.


Ends 




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