TEAMS cable to roll-out in April

Contractors laying The East African Marine Systems fiber optic cable have released a timetable signalling it could be on time for the June deadline.

Alcatel Submarines Network Systems, the project contractors, now say that the loading of the two installation ships both in United Arabs Emirates, from where the cable will stretch to the East African Coast, will be completed this month.

Teams board members are also expected in Fujaira to inspect the equipment before the ship starts laying the cable in the sea.

The announcement is meant to excite the Information, Communication and Technology market that is currently witnessing tremendous growth in demand for bandwidth, both for consumer internet use and corporate data networks.

“We expect a lot of movement to take place in the month of April,” said Teams board member and Safaricom’s head of legal and regulatory affairs, Nzioka Waita after touring the teams landing station in Mombasa on Monday.

Seacom, the other fibre optic cable, is also expected in June while the third cable, The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System, has announced it will be on land a year later.

Teams landing station in Mombasa has been provided by Telkom Kenya after the two parties agreed on a lease facility that will be located at Telephone house along the coastal city’s Moi Avenue.

Terminal equipment is required to connect the submarine cable to the terrestrial infrastructure in the country before its activation.

“The equipment room is now ready to be handed over to the contractor to begin the installation of equipment for the landing station,” said Mr Waita.

The landing station will house power equipment, transmission equipment and network monitoring equipment.

Teams is owned by a consortium of Kenyan operators registered under Teams Limited with an 85 per cent stake, worth about $110 million. The rest is owned by Dubai Telecom operator, Etisalat.