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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>KDN did NOT buy jointly with Celtel!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>KDN and Celtel are 2 different
entities!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Kai</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mediacorp.research@mediacorp.co.ke
href="mailto:mediacorp.research@mediacorp.co.ke">Bill Kagai</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke
href="mailto:kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke">kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A
title=kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">KICTAnet ICT Policy
Discussions</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 27, 2008
09:54</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [kictanet] Private investors
sign up for stake in cable project</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><B>Private investors sign up for stake in cable
project</B><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6661&Itemid=5847">http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6661&Itemid=5847</A><BR><SPAN
class=nl_content><B><BR>March 27, 2008:</B> The construction of the undersea
fibre optic cable that is to connect Kenya to the world of high speed Internet
has received a big boost with the signing of an agreement that paves the way
for the private sector to contribute to its financing.<BR><BR>The agreement
which makes the signatories co-owners of the East African Marine System
project with the Government, was signed last week even as the new shareholders
forced out two prospective buyers.<BR><BR>The new shareholder agreement leaves
Safaricom and the Government of Kenya as the anchor shareholders with a 20 per
cent stake each in the project and Wananchi Telecom with 10 per cent. Kenya
Data Network and Celtel jointly acquired a 10 per cent stake in the company
while France Telecom and Econet Kenya have a 10 per cent share each.
<BR><BR>Jamii Telkom got four per cent although it had initially expressed
interest in buying 3.75 per cent. <BR><BR>Two firms, Gilat Satcom and Internet
Research, a Ghanaian company, were knocked out of the ownership agreement for
failing to meet the 20 per cent local representation requirement. Each had
expressed an interest in acquiring a 1.25 per cent stake.<BR><BR>The identity
of two local companies that had expressed interest in the project remains
unknown. The companies are, however, said to be associated with Brian Longwe,
a Kenyan IT sector businessman.<BR><BR>The signing of the shareholder pact,
also known as an Escrow agreement comes after the Government signed an
initial shareholder agreement with Etisalat of United Arab Emirates.
<BR><BR>The Government paid 12 per cent of its total 85 per cent
ownership in the cable. Etisalat also made a down payment of $1.2 million to
cover 12 per cent of its total 15 per cent ownership of the
cable.<BR><BR>These two payments gave Alcatel-Lucent, the company that won the
tender to build the cable from Fujairah to the port of Mombasa .
<BR><BR>Manufacturing the cables was to begin on March 15, this year,
but started three days later. Information ministry Permanent secretary,
Bitange Ndemo, said Alcatel-Lucent has appointed a team to oversee
construction. <BR><BR>The timeline for the TEAMs project indicates that it
should be ready by the second quarter of next year.<BR><BR>Other than TEAMs,
two other fibre optic cables, SEACOM and EASSy are competing to connect East
Africa to the global network of highspeed internet.<BR><BR>EASSy concluded
financial closure in the last week of February having raised $248 million that
enabled it to make a down payment to the contractor Alcatel-Lucent.
According to the EASSy secretariat, the first phase of construction kicked off
on March 14, this year and is expected to be ready in the first half of 2010.
<BR><BR>The EASSy cable will run 10,500 kilometres from South Africa, through
Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti
and Sudan. <BR>Thirteen land locked countries will also be linked to the
system through terrestrial backbone networks. <BR><BR>This includes, Bostwana,
Burundi, Central Africa Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad,
Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.<BR><BR>Jamii Telecom Limited, a subsidiary of the AdGroup of
Companies' investment in TEAMS project is meant to complement its Metro Fiber
Network whose construction began last year.<BR><BR>Technology company
AccessKenya has a 1.25 per cent stake in the project and aims at increasing
its bandwidth capacity 10 times. Access Kenya is yet to disclose the amount of
money it plans to pump into the project. <BR><BR>So far Jamii has spent more
than Sh500 million on the Nairobi Metro Fibre targeting a market that is
currently dominated by Telkom Kenya and Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and plans
to spend additional Sh700 million in the network. <BR><BR>By buying into
TEAMS, Jamii and Access Kenya hope to provide terrestrial connectivity that
will ultimately hook consumers to the global network of high speed
Internet.<BR><BR>John Kamau, the general manager at Jamii said the firm hoped
to leverage on the National Fiber Optic backbone to enhance international
connectivity.<BR><BR>Kenya's information communication technology (ICT) sector
is expected to grow tremendously once the fibre optic cables are up and
running. <BR><BR>The cables will stop reliance on the more expensive satellite
technologies, bringing down costs and attracting new players especially in the
Business Process Outsourcing, call centres, segment. <BR><BR>Mr Kamau says
that the Jamii's Metro Fiber network, is able to support High Definition
Video, Voice and Data is ideal for Telco's, businesses with branch networks
like banks, BPOs, disaster recovery sites, SMEs, ISP's, Media Houses and
residential users among others.<BR></SPAN><SPAN
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