Superfast internet goes live in Kenya

• Fibre optic operator Seacom goes live in five countries.
• Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa set for faster connectivity.

Internet broadband has become a reality in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda for the first after one of the four awaited undersea cables was finally switched on on Thursday.

This will be after the fibre optic operator Seacom goes live in five countries.

The privately-funded consortium will be switching on its $760m (Sh59 billion at current exchange rates) sub-sea cable in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa with Rwanda set to be linked up in two weeks’ time.

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

Three unnamed internet players were the first to access the cable following the switch.

“This is an incredibly special day for Kenya and Africa and I am very happy to be part of it,” said Seacom vice-president, Jean-Pierre de Leu said a few hours ago at the launch at the Swahili Cultural centre where the Mombasa landing station is based.

“No project can compete with this for the importance it holds for Kenya and for Africa,” said Haskell Ward, Seacom’s senior vice-president in charge of government relations.

The benefits are expected to be immense with the sub-sea cable expected to provide super-fast internet connections and vastly expanded bandwidth capacity.

The forthcoming Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum to be led by United States Secretary of State is a prime example of what the cable can do. The talks are set to be streamed live to the five countries and will also feature what has until now been the stuff of movies.

Talks are on with AAR to have a clinic at the venue that will be virtually manned by staff located at a different venue, a variant of telemedicine.

But the private consortium warned that Kenyans would have to wait longer for the expected massive drop in prices as industry players sought to recoup their initial outlay.

“What we are providing is a highway and it will be up to the telcos and internet service providers to decide the final cost,” said Mr Ward.

The launch will be marked by a live telecast between Tanzania president Jakaya Kikwete and Cisco president John Chambers to be preceded by an address by Seacom president Brian Herlihy.

High resolution and internet television and better voice, data and video services will be among the more visible benefits.

Business Process Outsourcing firms are expected to be among the big winners as they would be able to compete on a level platform with their counterparts in Asian economies such as the Philippines and India.

Kenya has been the only region in the world not connected to an undersea fibre optic cable and has had to rely on the more expensive satellite which charges as high as $7,000 dollars per megabyte. Seacom has announced that it will offer wholesale prices.
Seacom’s cable will link South Africa, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique to India and Europe. The entire system will be operated and controlled through Seacom’s network operations centre based in Pune, India.

Three other marine cables are also competing to serve the local market. They are the government-backed TEAMs (The East African Marine System), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and Lion.

TEAMS landed at Mombasa early last month and is currently undergoing testing while the other two are expected to be operational by mid-2010.

Seacom said it would offer uniform pricing for its bandwidth across the region.

Besides Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique, Seacom will also connect Madagascar, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Seacom is a privately funded venture with Kenya’s Industrial Promotion Services having a 26.25 per cent stake, Venfin Limited (25 per cent), South Africa’s Shanduka Group (12.5 per cent) and Convergence Partners controlling 12.5 per cent of the cable.

The remaining 23.75 per cent is held by New York-based international development group Herakles Capital.