[kictanet] Internet costs set to drop as government rolls out fibre optics plan

[alice]

  Written by Kui Kinyanjui
The cost of telephony and Internet connections is expected to drop by
80 per cent in 24 months thanks to an ambitious information
technology project that aims to position Kenya as one of the most
wired countries on the continent.

Yesterday, the Government announced that it had set in motion a
project that will see the country's 124 districts linked by a fibre
optic raising the stakes in what has become the fastest growing
sector in the economy.

More than 5,000km of fibre optic cable will be laid to all corners of
the country to serve as a national backbone that will provide
consumers with access to broadband internet. "This infrastructure
will serve as the pillar on which services will ride to support the
demands of a modern economy," said Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Information. The government has
committed to financing the project to the tune of $50 million
(Sh3.5bn) hoping to provide high speed connectivity to areas that
have thus far been ignored.

Upon completion, the National Optic Fibre project is expected to
herald the transformation of Kenya into top notch ICT country where
consumers will have access to high-end market services such as cable
and internet protocol television.

Africa Analysis, a South African research firm estimates that Kenya's
broadband data services market will grow by nearly 600 per cent
between 2006 and 2011.
Much of that growth will come from rural and home users as well as
increased use of enhanced services such as tele-medicine and e-
education as the cost of Internet connectivity drops. It is also
expected that the terrestrial fibre network will create new business
opportunities for entrepreneur, who can piggy-back on the
Government's investment to extend ICT services to the rural folk.

"With this infrastructure, we expect to attract service providers to
remote and marginal areas at lower costs," said John Waweru, director-
general of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) that is
overseeing the project.

Mr Waweru said the fibre optics project is part of a bigger plan to
make the country an Information, Communications and Technology (ICT)
hub.
It will be hinged on the 600km terrestrial fibre optic cable that
Telkom Kenya has laid between the coastal city of Mombasa and Malaba
town on the Kenya-Uganda border via Nairobi.

"Our aim is to move the country to an infrastructure sharing system
to reduce costs," Dr Ndemo said.

Kenya Data Networks, a private firm that has invested millions of
shillings in a cable connecting Mombasa to Busia via Nairobi
yesterday shrugged off fears that it may be a victim of the
initiative. "The more infrastructure that is in place, the better for
the consumer," said David Owino, the general manger at KDN.

Fibre optic cables can carry more data than satellite technology,
which to date is the key infrastructure of internet services in
Kenya.
The government, who will seek to raise the $50 million for the
national backbone project through grants, concessions and loans, has
already short-listed nine international firms who have been invited
to tender for the project.

The range of international companies short-listed vying for the
project includes Chinese Huawei and ZTE corporations, Sagem, Alcatel-
Lucent and Siemens. "Africa is the new hot spot for
telecommunications projects," said Sun Jun of ZTE. "The
telecommunications market has a lot of potential in this country."
NOFBI indicates the executive is giving the nod to the ICT industry
to take up its position as an economic driver. As a service sector,
the communications industry is contributing increasingly large
amounts to the national kitty.

Services now contribute to 65 per cent of the country's economy. In
2005, the ICT sector's contribution was pegged at over 10 per cent,
up from 9 per cent in 2004.

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