Rival fiber-optic cables set for market battle in Africa

The battle for the control of East Africa broadband market has now been drawn following the announcement that the East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) project has landed its cables in Mombasa and has been launched by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

The 5,000 kilometer fiber-optic cable, which has been laid from Fajairah, United Arab Emirates, is expected to be operational by the end of this month almost at the same time as the rival Sea Cable System (SEACOM) cable project, which will cost more than US$600 million.

SEACOM is hurrying to beat the TEAMS project in the race to connect both the east and southern Africa countries to the rest of the world. With high-performance optical-transmission equipment, which connects customers to inland networks already installed in Maputo, Mumbai and Djibouti landing stations, the cable is ready to providing broadband services June 30.

Kibaki said the TEAMS project, which is a public-private partnership between the Kenyan government and private companies, is geared toward connecting the East African region with the rest of the world and harnessing the power of ICT.

The project, Kibaki said, would empower the east Africans to become digital citizens, adding that it was a big step in the delivery of quality services in the ICT sector in the region.

SEACOM CEO Brian Herlihy said the more players there are in the communication market, the greater the benefits the customer will have as a result of increased availability of bandwidth.

"We welcome competition and look forward to seeing Africa become truly connected to the rest of the world," Herlihy said via e-mail.

SEACOM management said the cable will assist communication carriers in southern and East Africa in providing wholesale capacity for global network connectivity.

Readily accessible bandwidth, Kibaki said, will not only lower telecommunication costs in the region but also provide new opportunities in all sectors including e-health, scientific research and e-commerce.

TEAMS project shareholders include mobile service provider Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, Kenya Data Network, Africa Fibre Net of Uganda and Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates.

George Tapfumanei, communications officer for the African Agency for ICT development, said Africa's reliance on satellite communication is slowly diminishing because of the fiber-optic cables being developed.

Like the SEACOM cable, the $130 million TEAMS cable will link Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa with Fujairah and will also connect other east African countries to international communication networks.

The SEACOM cable, which is privately funded and three quarters African-owned, is expected to provide bandwidth on an open access basis, allowing all operators to have equal access to the cable. The SEACOM cable, which will connect directly to Europe and India, is expected to have a total capacity of 1,280GB bits per second.

Africa currently relies on expensive satellite connections for telephones and the Internet.

Meanwhile, the Rwandan government has started negotiating with Kenya over a possible partnership to connect the country's backbone with the TEAMS cable. Rwanda has already received US$24 million from the World Bank under the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program to establish the country's capacity to provide broadband connectivity and access to low cost international connectivity.

The World Bank wants Rwanda to connect its national backbone to landing sites for any of the cables under the Indian Ocean including SEACOM and the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project in order to improve communications in the country.