Third fibre optic firm expected in June

By Fredrick Obura

Plans for a third player in the fiber optic business is on top gear.

Speaking during a media briefing in Nairobi, Chris Wood, West Indis Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) CEO said the laying of infrastructure is at advanced level and the cable should be expected in Mombasa latest next month.

"We have deployed over 10 per cent of the cable into Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Things are on track and we expect to start testing the system at the end of April," he said.

The landing of Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASSY), the third fiber optic cable company, is anticipated to heighten competition in the data industry, this would help address teething pricing problems.

"EASSY’s open structure and affordable pricing promise to bring cost effective international connectivity to mobile operators, fixed line operators, data network operators and ISP’s throughout East, Central and Southern Africa," said James Wekesa, chief operating officer of WIOCC.

EASSY, a 1.4 Terabytes per second submarine cable system to connect nine African countries along the east coast landed in Djibouti on February 15.

From the shoreline, the cable will be connected directly to Djibouti Telecoms landing station, where it will re-interconnect with domestic and international networks.

Mr Wekesa said the landing of the EASSY cable in Djibouti and South Africa marks a milestone towards completion of what will be the largest cable system serving Africa’s eastern seaboard.

"The cable will provide our customers in Djibouti and South Africa with affordable high-speed connectivity into other parts of Africa," he said.

The network will offer international carriers high capacity route into parts of Africa.