Fibre optic project runs into financial troubles

By James Anyanzwa and John Njiraini

The eagerly awaited fibre optic cable —Teams— has sunk into financial troubles.

The latest revealations comes just as the Government moved in to allay fears over the East African Marine Systems (Teams) cable disputed landing permit at the historic cultural site of Fort Jesus, Mombasa.

The Standard has established the shareholding structure is set to change after some investors allocated shares failed to meet the deadline to pay up for their stake.

The investors’ 90-day payment window expired on June 10 and the Government has vowed to kick out those that have not paid and re-sale their shareholdings.

"So far some small shareholders have not paid though the big guys have paid. They say they are still going back to consult their boards," said Information and Communications PS Dr Bitange Ndemo.

Competitive bidding

Though he could not name the investors who are yet to pay, the companies with minority shareholding are Access Kenya, Inhand Ltd, Equip Ltd, Flashcom and Fibrenet Africa all with a 1.25 per cent stake.

Plans to by the Government to kick-out investors who have not paid for their stake and invite new investors among them South Africans has not been well received.

According to industry players, the Teams project should be purely an East Africa affair more so considering how South Africans took control of the Eassy project.

Internet Service Providers UUNET and Iconet (Internet Solutions) and the Rwandan Government are among the other new investors being considered in the new share re-allocations.