EASSy to compete head on with SAT3
The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which will cost in excess of US$ 200 million, will deliver the first undersea fiber optic cable to link the countries of Eastern Africa with the rest of the world.
Mr. Sihra is confident that there will be no monetary shortfalls, but there are measures in place to deal with any unforeseen problems.
He pointed that EASSy will be an ‘open access at cost’ system and will be cost effective and competitively priced.
“The capacity pricing is probably the cheapest anywhere in the world with a comparable system,” Sihra said.
EASSy will enable any ISP (Internet Service Provider) or organization with an international service license to purchase bandwidth on the cable at reasonable rates.
Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Sentech and the SNO are all part of the EASSy project, and they will have the option to purchase excess bandwidth and act as resellers.
It was encouraging to see that EASSy is ready to compete with SAT3, and Sihra said that they will not underestimate their competition.
They expect SAT3 to react to the price decreases introduced by the EASSy cable, but will be ready for this competitive environment.
EASSy will be fully functional by the fourth quarter of next year according to Sihra.
The initial capacity will be 20 Gbps, but will be upgraded as the demand increases.
The full interview with Mr. Sihra is available on our Podcast site .
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