High-Speed Cable Ushers in New Internet Era

Nairobi — The first undersea fiber optic cable went live in five African countries simultaneously on Thursday, marking the beginning of an era of faster and cheaper internet connections.

A privately-funded consortium, Seacom, commissioned its Sh59 billion ($760m) undersea cable in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa with Rwanda set to be linked up in the next two weeks.

This effectively means that Kenya is now part of the global information superhighway and will be able to compete on a more level platform with more established economies.

The commissioning in Mombasa, was marked with a live telecast by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam, who was linked with journalists in Kampala, Maputo, Johannesburg, London and Marseille.

"The arrival of this cable signals the beginning of a new era in the telecommunications sector," said Mr Kikwete. "History has been made."

Eastern Africa has been the only region in the world not connected through an undersea fiber optic cable and has had to rely on the more expensive satellites whose charges have been as high as Sh540,000 ($7,000) per megabyte.

"Today is the day technology has arrived in Africa," said Cisco Systems vice-president Le Roux, whose firm provided the technology for the cable.

Seacom announced that it would offer wholesale prices in the range of Sh7,700 ($100) per megabyte, with even more subsidized costs of between Sh770 and Sh1,925 ($10-$25) to schools, research and health institutions.

Source: AHU – Raymond Irambo