Cut in SEACOM undersea cable disrupts entire country

BY PATRICK GITHINJI

A cut on an undersea cable along the Egypt costal line caused frustration among the broadband users and Internet providers.

Confirming the cable cut, Information and Communication Minister, Samuel Poghisio, told journalists that the cut on a cable onwed by SEACOM had affected the entire country.

"This is a serious crime since it has affected all sectors, and this mean loss of businesses," Poghisio said.

SEACOM provides international connectivity for many service providers and other broadband users.

"Due to a fault on a transmission partners cable 3.7 km from Alexandria, Egypt certain clients are experiencing service degradation on the SEACOM network. SEACOM is in process of restoring client services and will report progress on the fault rectification," SEACOM said a Twitter feed.

On Wednesday, Poghisio said the Government would be introducing changes to the Information Act to drastically enhance the penalties for cable vandals from a maximum penalty of Sh100,000 or three years imprisonment, to Sh10 million or life in jail.

Doubling capacity

Poghisio was addressing Journalists in Nairobi after a consortium meeting organised by the undersea fiber optic cable, EASSY.

EASSY announced it would be doubling capacity of its system next year. The firm Chief Executive, Chris Wood, said the decision to increase its lit capacity utilising the latest 40 Gbps wavelength technology is powered by the successful initial four months of operation.

"The system has been successful since the launch and as the result we now see the need to increase available capacity to cater for the increased demand from African and international operators," Chris said.