News
Internet flurry as Kenya goes live on Seacom cable
Stephen Tricarico (right) the technical engineer network testing services from TYCO Telecommunications, USA shows Seacom Fibre Optic technical staff engineer Ismail Abdulshakur where to click to officially commission the Seacom fibre optic under sea cable at the Swahili Cultural Centre where they have put up the landing station. Photo/GIDEON MAUNDU
Posted Friday, July 24 2009 at 18:41
In Summary
- However, providers warn Kenyans will enjoy wonders of the link from September
One area of growth is expected to be in the mobile telephony sector as operators will increase their wireless bandwidth.
This means that those using modems to connect at home need not worry about them becoming redundant as the service will also become faster.
A significant advantage of the fibre optic cable lies in its efficiency in the transmission of signals.
With VSat, the most common Internet connection in use in Kenya today, it takes between 600 and 700 milliseconds for a signal to travel from one earth station to a satellite and back to earth – described as a round trip.
The fibre optic cable reduces round trip time to less than 100 milliseconds, said Mr Serem, meaning that the chances of congestion are reduced to almost zero.
The benefits of fibre optic are three-fold: an increase in the bandwidth (a bigger pipe through which to feed pass data), a reduction of the round trip time and reduction of the chances of congestion.
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Submitted by MutharimePosted July 26, 2009 08:40 PM
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Submitted by njengah
This is long overdue. I am told by reliable sources that this took long because some politicians wanted to make a killing in these deals. We should have full disclosure on who owns these companies involved in the Seacom deal and you will be surprised that you have probably seen them in a deal involving Safaricom. I am just a messenger. We are all being screwed into paying a whole lot for connectivity and the Daily Nation is here cheering instead of asking questions!
Posted July 26, 2009 12:24 PM -
Submitted by We_need_a_revolution
USD100 for I Mbps????? Are they for real??? That's too expensive.. Plus that's what Seacom will sell to ISPs... How much will the ISPs sell to the end-users???? It will be years before internet in Kenya is cheap and accessible to all...
Posted July 26, 2009 10:08 AM -
Submitted by myviewstoday
Amazing speeds for the Internet is certainly good. However, It will not make sense to many Kenyan clients if the cost is not adjusted in their favour.It is frustrating to be forewarned about recoupping of investments and also, ISPs requiring time to test the cable before rolling access to their customers. It would be prudent to provide clear guidelines, at what point in time, do Kenyans expect to enjoy reduced cost? or, (may be)a miracle will just happen one day?
Posted July 26, 2009 08:19 AM -
Submitted by miwanyu
Its not whether or not its the last country to get the undersea cable its what or how its going to use it. For example how has N Africa benefited apart from having faster internet at home and offices for their own consumption. See in Kenya we already had the need created and all we were to do was to get the communication cable so that they can benefit. Create the need before solving the need.
Posted July 26, 2009 08:14 AM
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If I may ask, Why is safaricom's internet still slow?