This month, the construction of the $235 million East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project will begin following the approval of $70.7 million in start-up funds from the IFC, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Germany's (KfW) and the AFD of France.
The 10,000km fibre-optic cable connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan will be laid by French firm Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, while firms from Britain , India , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates and the US are also part of the ambitious venture.
Initially the EASSy initiative would cut costs by up to two-thirds. Current costs of internet access in the region range from $200 to $300 a month.
Let me also point out that Kenya probably stands to benefit the most from this initiative for a number of reasons:
- It has both the population level and a density of private sector activity to be different
- Consumer and Business confidence has increased substantially with a liberalised regime. We hope that a similar climate can be maintained after the 2007 elections
- The market is readying itself for the arrival of cheaper bandwidth. This is evident with the increase in the number of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) companies already maxing out the available satellite bandwidth