Teams cable to land in July, PS assures

By Macharia Kamau

Funding for the East African Marine System (Teams) project is in place and no delays are expected, Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo said yesterday.

The PS added that the cable is on course and is expected to dock in Mombasa within the next three months.

The PS’s remarks contradict a statement by Teams chairman and spokesman Michael Joseph. Last week, Joseph said that the project might experience delays as some of the key investors in the project had not settled their financial commitments of about Sh6.9 billion.

Although not outrightly disputing the delay in the forthcoming of finances from some of the parties that have a stake in the project, Ndemo said the funding for the project is adequate and no delays are expected.

"The project has so far not experienced any shortage of funds and we do not expect that to happen," he said.

Teams is a Government initiative expected to connect the country and the region to the rest of the world through a fibre optic backbone.

Currently, the country relies on satellite connection, which is both costly and slow.

Ndemo spoke yesterday after the official closing of the three-day East African WiMax conference held in Nairobi.

First for the region

WiMax technology has been referred to as the last mile in the provision of Internet connectivity and is expected to compliment the terrestrial fiber optic cable that may not cover all the areas where connectivity is needed.

African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (Afralti), an inter-governmental organisation, and Aitec convened the conference, which is the first for the region.

Participants from the region discussed issues such as legislation, regulation and other technologies that would need to be in place for the WiMax technology to be utilised effectively in East Africa.