Not so EASSy

[Sneeky]

The good news is that excessively high international bandwidth prices in Africa, caused by the monopolisation of the SAT-3 undersea cable, are to be challenged by the establishment of a new submarine cable on the east coast of Africa.

The bad news, according to some stakeholders at a conference on the East Africa submarine (EASSy) cable last weekend, is that a similar ownership structure to the club consortium of telecom operators that have monopolised the SAT-3 cable may minimise the benefits of this project.

It is estimated that only 5% of the potential Sat-3 capacity is currently being used. When investors were sounded out about an upgrade to the cable, more than 20% declined as they had not sold their original capacity.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=267024&area=/insight/insight__economy__business/

 

[WillS]

This week, it was announced that Telkom might expand into several African states in one swoop with a potential bid for a share in Portugal Telecom.

The latter has interests in Angola, Morocco, Mozambique, Kenya, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.

There's the rub

BTW, I LOVE that picture of the SAT-3 cable strangling Africa!

 

[Sneeky]

''The latter has interests in Angola, Morocco, Mozambique, Kenya, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.''

Yup, these poor african countries have no idea what is about to infect their telecoms industry.

 

[krycor]

Geez what a way to waste cable. 5% usage.. damn. If they don't wanna use it, I want it. Thats why eassy mght not work, sure it gives extra capacity but that was not the problem, teleco's were and they are again in on it.