[Kictanet] Fw: EASSy Project Dispute Takes New Twist

[alice at apc.org]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Binaifer Nowrojee" <bnowrojee at osiea.org>

Eassy Project Dispute Takes New Twist
by Elias Biryabarema
729 words

Kampala, Jan 09, 2007 (The Monitor/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX)
--

THE protracted wrangle between the NEPAD's e-Africa Commission and a
consortium of companies that initially conceived the Eastern Africa
Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project now looks set to result in the
construction of two competing submarine cables, Daily Monitor has
learnt.

What is still unclear is to what extent this new development will affect
the pace of development of the cable project and how it will impact its
ability to meet its overriding objectives, mainly bringing down the
costs of communication and spurring the Information, Communication and
Information (ICT) industry in the region.

EASSy is an ambitious initiative to connect countries of eastern Africa
via a high bandwidth fibre optic cable system to the rest of the world.
It was first mooted by a group of about 15 telecom companies meeting in
Nairobi, Kenya in 2003. They included Uganda's MTN and UTL, Telecom S.
Africa, Kenya Telecom and others.

They planned to lay a fibre optic cable along the East African coast
that would offer a direct connection to the world's information
superhighway. It was to enable the region have access to a broadband
network which would permit ultra-fast transmission of digital traffic
and at cheaper prices.

Mr Donald Nyakairu, UTL's Legal Counsel and Chairman of EASSy Finance
committee asserted in a recent interview that the e-Africa Commission's
hijacking of the cable was unfair and opportunistic and that its actions
were being totally disregarded. The consortium has repeatedly rebuffed
entreaties from the commission to stop their plans and join in the NEPAD
project.

"While the e-Commission is busy making everybody believe that they're in
charge of the project, for us we are advancing pretty fast and real
construction is starting soon," Mr Nyakairu said.

He said the original companies that conceived the idea later signed an
understanding and constituted themselves into a consortium that was
supposed to develop, own and operate the cable.

The e-Commission was invited in the subsequent meetings, as an observer
but to the astonishment of the consortium, it soon started to show deep
interest in the project's details and even demanded active involvement.

"We thought they were attending to see the progress, but all of a sudden
they started to make demands which shocked us," Nyakairu said.

Right now, the e-Commission is pursuing its own project in concert with
the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the governments of
South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, DR Congo, Rwanda and others
which are also signatories to the EASSy protocol.

The conflict between the two sides principally stems from the mode of
the project implementation.

NEPAD e-Africa Commission insists that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
develops, owns, and operates the cable while the consortium wants
companies to take charge exclusively.

Mr Nyakairu said if the commission wants to construct a parallel cable,
then it must find its own name and stop encroaching on the intellectual
property of the consortium (EASSy).

However, the Commission's regulatory advisor, Dr Edmund Katiti dismissed
claims that it was hijacking the EASSy name. "The regional network is
currently referred to as the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network"
he said, adding that it consists of two interconnected segments - a
submarine cable and a terrestrial network (intra-country cable).

He said the shareholders in the SPVs are the ones who will decide what
name(s) to give to the network and its segments.

As a way of attempting to defuse the differences and accommodate the
concerns of the Commission, Mr Nyakairu said the Consortium members had
decided to also have an SPV that would act as a collective investment
vehicle for all smaller telecom concerns in the region.

This SPV will then buy shares in the cable as a single investor. "We
really think we have done everything to address all these accusations,"
he said.

Even then, the two sides seem to be far from striking any agreement. Dr
Katiti said the Nepad ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network Protocol is
scheduled to go into effect in the first quarter of 2007, which would
also mark the commencement of construction.

On the other hand, the consortium has already awarded the construction
contract to Alcatel and work is beginning early this year.