[kictanet] Fw: [Fibre-for-africa] What's Up EASSy?

Thu Apr 23 15:41:42 EAT 2009

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Kenya

-----Original Message-----
From: Abi <abi.jagun at gmail.com>

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:39:41 
To: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants<fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org>
Subject: Re: [Fibre-for-africa] What's Up EASSy?

Dear All

I am finding out a lot more information about EASSy since making the
post and will likely update the initial analysis that was conducted in
2006/7.

I just want to provide more clarification on two main issues:
- my conclusions about the KDN/FLAG
- the source of my optimism about EASSy

All the information that I used for this analysis (and update)
was available (at that time) in the public domain and whilst I did try
to take bias into consideration I think I can point to a few news
reports/press releases that MADE me rather optimistic about EASSy.

The first set are about the FLAG cable; they seem to suggest that
where possible this project and the partners involved would prefer to
merge with an existing project than "go it alone" - of course this is
just my opinion:

1. Various articles reported the signing of an agreement between KDN
and Flag. See for example the Balancing Act articles on the
Fibre-for-Africa site
- http://fibreforafrica.net/main.shtml?x=5038604&als[MYALIAS6]=KDN%20pips%20EASSy%20to%20the%20post%20&als[select]=4887798

2. "VSNL, East African Cable may merge links" -
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-154161796.html - published in October
2006 talks about discussions between VSNL and EASSy to merge their
respective undersea cables linking India and Africa to Europe.

3. There are also articles that cite KDN's investment in TEAMS as well
as the company becoming a part of EASSy [see for example
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=824 and

4. "VSNL Announces Construction of $250 Million Express TGN Eurasia
Cable System" -
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=4903656 -
reports on a cable being built by VSNL that will link Mumbai to Paris,
London and Madrid via Egypt. The cable is being built in partnership
with SEACOM and Telecom Egypt. Looking  at the SEACOM route
[http://www.seacom.mu/intro.html] it is clear where such a cable would
connect with the SEACOM

a more recent addition to all this is:

5. "KDN new partner to inject Sh1.4bn for expansion" -
http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6232&Itemid=5847
- which provides information on KDN's investment strategy; it has no
mention of its agreement with FLAG.

But perhaps there is information out there to the contrary and I would
be interested in having access to these.

The second set of articles informed my understanding of the financial
position of EASSy. Based on these the impression I got was that the
financing for the cable had reached an advanced stage and this led to
my optimism that it will indeed be completed.

These include a news item by Rwanda News Agency (RNA)
-http://allafrica.com/stories/200803171222.html - It states:
"The construction of the cable has been made possible by the project
developers, who secured all the necessary financing, officials from
the EASSY Project Secretariat in Nairobi-Kenya say."

Also relevant is an entry on the WIOCC website that states:
"Two-thirds of the submarine survey work is now complete, with only
the southern leg remaining" - see http://www.wiocc.net/news.html

I guess this will likely bring up discussions about whether or not
there is demand for all these cables; but perhaps that is another
discussion thread entirely.

Thanks to everyone that has responsed so far.

Abi

2009/4/22 Abi <abi.jagun at gmail.com>:
> Dear All
>
> I use EASSy as a case study for a course I teach on and recently came up
> with the following summary of where the project currently stands. The
> "update" was put together to complement a stakeholder analysis that was done
> by APC late 2006/early 2007 and which can be downloaded here:
> http://www.apc.org/apps/img_upload/f22c64f43b568608639b68dbdd91d89a/Updated_EASSy_Stakeholders_Analysis_v1.0.pdf
>
> I would appreciate any comments on this.
>
>
> Abi
>
>
>>
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: fibre-for-africa-bounces at lists.apc.org [mailto:fibre-for-africa-
>> > > bounces at lists.apc.org] On Behalf Of wakabi at cipesa.org
>> > > Sent: 26 March 2009 01:43
>> > > To: eric at afrispa.org; APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop
>> > > Participants
>> > > Subject: [Fibre-for-africa] What's Up EASSy?
>> > >
>> > > What's up EASSy?
>> > >
>> > > It's been a few quiet months at the EASSy stable, but word is now out
>> > > on
>> > > where this initiative has gotten to. And the word doesn't seem to good
>> > > for
>> > > EASSy enthusiasts. Once a front-runner in the so-called race to land
>> > > fibre
>> > > at the eastern coast of Africa, EASSy has conceded it is seriously
>> > > trailing SEACOM (which appears comfortably perched in the driver's
>> > > seat)
>> > > and TEAMS (which is following in, albeit not too closely).
>> > >
>> > > According to a report in Kenya's Daily Nation, EASSy now expects to
>> > > get
>> > > operational around June 2010 (we add: 8 years after visionaries
>> > > initially
>> > > conceived it and got down to putting it together). Quoting Chris Wood,
>> > > CEO
>> > > of West Indian ocean cable Co. Ltd., the SPV for EASSy, the report
>> > > says
>> > > indicates EASSy will leverage on a "competitive long-term business
>> > > plan
>> > > to
>> > > reduce the coast of bandwidth for coastal and land-locked countries".
>> > > Besides, Wood claims his cable will have the biggest capacity of them
>> > > all.
>> > > Details:
>> > > http://www.nation.co.ke/magazines/smartcompany/-/1226/549886/-
>> > > /srb1j8z/-/index.html
>> > >
>> > > SEACOM, meanwhile, announced this week it would go commercial in July
>> > > this
>> > > year - although the cable would be ready in June.  Monthly charges for
>> > > bulk purchases would be around US$100-US$200 per Mbps. They said
>> > > demand
>> > > is
>> > > so high they will offer bandwidth at lower prices than their earlier
>> > > biz
>> > > plan forecast; talked about profitability reaching lots earlier than
>> > > initially anticipated; and said carriers in the region would actually
>> > > be
>> > > better off accessing more than one cable. Nice.
>> > >
>> > > But some are wondering: Now that the cables are coming, what are we
>> > > gonna
>> > > do with that bandwidth? Possibilities are vast, plans probably much
>> > > less.
>> > > It appears in Kenya, there's both thinking and action. 1) This week,
>> > > an
>> > > education minister has spoken about interesting e-learning plans whose
>> > > implementation  later this year he said would be enabled by the
>> > > availability of the cable. 2) Kenya Data Networks, one of those
>> > > gleefully
>> > > signing onto the SEACOM offering, has said they will reduce their
>> > > costs
>> > > from next month. 3) At the end of last year the Kenya ICT Board
>> > > unveiled a
>> > > US$4.1m kitty for developers of local content....
>> > >
>> > > For some of the other countries, there doesn't appear to be as much
>> > > cooking as in Kenya. Or may be someone just isn't telling us yet.
>> > >
>> > > Wakabi
>> > >
>> > >_______________________________________________
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>> >
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>>
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