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The Kenyan Government
The Kenyan Government has signed a MOU with UAE company Etisalat to build a fibre link to the United Arab Emirates. The project, called the East African Marine System (TEAMS) is expected to cost Kshs 5.7 billion and is scheduled to be ready by November 2008.
A supply and construction contract will be awarded in early 2007 for
the link, to be of a minimum of two fibre pairs with a capacity of
10Gbps apiece, upgradeable to 320Gbps. The Kenya Government will have a 40 per cent holding in the project, Etisalat 20% and the remaining 40% will go to investors in the East African region. A representative of the Kenyan government says expects prices for bandwidth in Kenya to be comparable to those found in India.
It will be interesting to see how TEAMS compares with the EASSY project, which is seemingly mired in politics over ownership and structure. Perhaps the rise of competing models, will spur on progress with EASSY or at least demonstrate that there are alternative ways to make the dream of open and affordable access in Africa a reality.
