Undersea cables open new opportunities for online firms

By James Anyanzwa

The landing of undersea fibre optic cables is giving rise to huge realignments in the telecommunication sector with online advertising and recruitment firms repositioning to reap from cheaper and faster Internet connectivity.
It is expected that operationalisation of the three undersea fibre optic cables —Seacom, The East African Marine System (Teams) and East Africa Submarine System (EASSy) — will usher in a new era of technological boom in the country and lead to a significant drop in the cost of communication.

"Teams will reduce Internet pricing,"Dr Bitange, Ndemo, Information and Communication PS told Financial Journal last week. The debate over pricing been informed by the high expectations the cables would offer consumers access to high speed Internet and significantly reduce prices.

Commissioning of the cables is expected to open up unprecedented opportunities, at a fraction of the current cost, as government, business leaders and citizens use the technology as a platform to compete globally and drive economic growth.

Digital media

"The cables will open up a majority of the Kenyan population to the internet which in turn will boost the growth of our company," says Jaynish Dodhia, properitor of Kazi-Kenya.com

www.kazi-kenya.com, an 8-month-old online job advertisement and recruitment firm is hoping to tap into an expanded Internet market to shore up its revenue base and increase profitability.

Kazi-Kenya is a provider of online recruitment services.

The upgraded Internet infrastructure will carry 10 gigabytes per second and would greatly relieve pressure of Internet service providerss to all its customers.

Fibre optic connectivity comes as a big reprieve to many people who expect the technology to lower the cost of communication.