Green light for new cable
The 21 parties involved in a project to build a high-capacity undersea fibre-optic cable along Africa’s east coast have agreed to begin construction of the US$235m system. The cable, known as the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy), will be the second of two systems to be constructed along a route previously unserved by undersea cables.
Eassy, which has been plagued by delays partly caused by political interference, will connect SA and countries in East Africa with submarine cables linking the Middle East with Europe and Asia.
The Eassy consortium, consisting of 21 parties (mainly telecommunications operators), has commissioned France’s Alcatel to build the cable system. The company will begin a marine survey next week to determine the best route for the cable.
SA operators Neotel, MTN and Vodacom/Telkom are the largest investors in the cable system and together are investing at least $50m in its construction. The project also enjoys the backing of the World Bank. Telkom Kenya’s Simon Olawo, who heads the Eassy project secretariat, says a funding shortfall of $15m was resolved at a meeting in Tanzania last week. The shortfall arose, in part, after Alcatel raised its fee due to delays. “The project is now oversubscribed,” he says.
He says the parties are also confident the cable will be allowed to land in SA. There had been concern that SA would block the cable under an onerous proposed policy on such systems. But Olawo says Eassy has received an assurance from communications department director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole that there would be no hindrance to the cable landing here.
Olawo downplays suggestions that the market may be overtraded, with rival Seacom already constructing another cable system along a similar route. “We think there’s a market for two cables,” he says, adding that there is enormous demand in the region for cheap bandwidth. “Costs will go down dramatically, especially with the two cables competing.”
Until now, markets in East Africa have had to rely on very expensive satellite communications for international connectivity. This has meant that Internet access, especially broadband, has been out of reach for the vast majority in the region. Olawo says that, barring unforeseen problems, Eassy will be ready for service by the end of next year, about six months after Seacom’s cable.
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