Work on Sea Cable begins
By Alari Alare
Construction of the Sea Cable System (Seacom) will link southern and eastern Africa with the rest of the World has started.
The 15,000 km cable, expected to provide 1.28 terabits per second of broadband capacity, will run from Mtunzini, near Durban in South Africa, to Mumbai in India and Marseille in France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed) through the Industrial Promotion Service (IPS) is one of the cables’ equity owners.
The marine cable will compete with The East African Marine System (Teams) fronted by the Government of Kenya and the Eastern Africa Submarine System (Eassy). Construction work for the two cables is expected to start next month.
A statement released by Seacom on Thursday, said the cable will be completed by June 2009. The construction work, which started on Monday, is being done by Tyco Telecommunications.
"The launch of construction marks a significant moment for our industry as we begin the first major submarine cable infrastructure system to link East and South Africa with India, the Middle East and Europe," said Mr Michael Rieger, vice president, sales, marketing and project management, Tyco Telecommunications.
The cable will provide inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting East and South African economic growth.
"The overwhelming demand for increased bandwidth in East and South Africa grows greater each day," said Mr Brian Herlihy, President, Seacom Ltd.
"The Sea Cable System is making massive new bandwidth available, enabling communication prices to come down dramatically ," said Herlihy.
The cable will be ready to serve Southern and East African markets from 2009, well in time to meet the bandwidth needs of the Confederations Cup and the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, and the growing requirements of the countries it will serve.
The financing structure of the $650 million (Sh43.6 billion) project has been divided into three parts: equity, debt financing and co-building arrangements.
Akfed has invested $75 million for 25 per cent equity in the cable. Financing through equity will account for $225 million while the debt part will account for $75 million.
The remaining $350 million will be met through a co-building financial arrangement with Telecom Egypt and India’s VSNL.
Construction of the Sea Cable System (Seacom) will link southern and eastern Africa with the rest of the World has started.
The 15,000 km cable, expected to provide 1.28 terabits per second of broadband capacity, will run from Mtunzini, near Durban in South Africa, to Mumbai in India and Marseille in France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed) through the Industrial Promotion Service (IPS) is one of the cables’ equity owners.
The marine cable will compete with The East African Marine System (Teams) fronted by the Government of Kenya and the Eastern Africa Submarine System (Eassy). Construction work for the two cables is expected to start next month.
A statement released by Seacom on Thursday, said the cable will be completed by June 2009. The construction work, which started on Monday, is being done by Tyco Telecommunications.
"The launch of construction marks a significant moment for our industry as we begin the first major submarine cable infrastructure system to link East and South Africa with India, the Middle East and Europe," said Mr Michael Rieger, vice president, sales, marketing and project management, Tyco Telecommunications.
The cable will provide inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting East and South African economic growth.
"The overwhelming demand for increased bandwidth in East and South Africa grows greater each day," said Mr Brian Herlihy, President, Seacom Ltd.
"The Sea Cable System is making massive new bandwidth available, enabling communication prices to come down dramatically ," said Herlihy.
The cable will be ready to serve Southern and East African markets from 2009, well in time to meet the bandwidth needs of the Confederations Cup and the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, and the growing requirements of the countries it will serve.
The financing structure of the $650 million (Sh43.6 billion) project has been divided into three parts: equity, debt financing and co-building arrangements.
Akfed has invested $75 million for 25 per cent equity in the cable. Financing through equity will account for $225 million while the debt part will account for $75 million.
The remaining $350 million will be met through a co-building financial arrangement with Telecom Egypt and India’s VSNL.
posted by Mwananchi at 7:56 PM
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