[kictanet] [Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] As SAT-3 Opens Up, Neotel Makes Its Move]

[alice]

Michael Malakata , IDG News Service
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 2:10 PM PDT


Now that the SAT-3 undersea cable has opened up to competition, with
South African communications network operator Neotel gaining access to
the network, industry insiders hope that prices will come down.

Neotel's access to the cable means that consumers have a wider choice
of operators, which could lead to lower prices for international
calls. Since 2002, cable consortium members with landing points had an
effective monopoly on providing cable bandwidth in their own countries
and to countries without landing points. As a result, the cost of
bandwidth remained high.

Neotel, however, will be offering bandwidth between South Africa and
the U.K., without having to touch the Telkom S.A. network. Local
landing rights to the cable were held exclusively by Telkom, a South
African government-owned provider, allowing the company to operate the
cable as a monopoly.

The South African government and other African countries where the
cable had landing points had control over who got direct access to
SAT-3 cable system.

Neotel Chief Technology Officer Angus Hay said Neotel gained access to
the cable last week, enabling the company to carry international voice
and data traffic to London at competitive prices and giving consumers
a choice of operators.

SAT-3 cable links South Africa to Portugal, Spain, India, Malaysia,
and West Africa including Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and Senegal.

South African Minister of Communication Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri declared
last year the termination of all exclusive provisions contained in
SAT-3 agreements.

Neotel's Hay said, meanwhile, that the company has deployed its own
equipment at the Melkbosstrand and Mtunzini landing stations of the
SAT-3 cable system, connected directly over its own high availability
fiber-optic network.

"Neotel is now able to obtain international capacity on the cable and
is able to pass the cost benefits to customers," Hay said via e-mail.

African policymakers, nongovernmental organizations and consumers had
been pushing for SAT-3 to include more operators to make the market
more competitive and bring down telecom costs.

The end of the SAT-3 monopoly over access will now subject the cable
to international bandwidth business competition and is likely to bring
down the cost of telecommunication in the region.

Already, Telkom has announced it is considering bandwidth price
reductions for the second time this year.

There are fears, however, that a bandwidth rush may occur among
African countries following the opening of the cable, causing it to
run out of capacity.


Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145021/as_sat3_opens_up_neotel_makes_its_move.html
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