Fiber Optic Cables To Extend to 3 More East African Nations
In today’s headlines, African Telecoms giant Seacom announced that it will be laying fiber optic broadband cables in the coming year in three African nations: Burundi, Somalia, and Southern Sudan. Fiber cables will first be laid in Burundi with the assistance of a $10.1 million dollar grant from the World Bank, and later in Southern Sudan and Somalia.
Attempting to connect all of East Africa together, Seacom has successfully completed fiber construction in Uganda, Djibouti, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya, which is the headquarters of the region. East African governments have been key partners with Seacom and other private telecommunications companies, including Korea Telecom in Rwanda. In fact, the East African Community (EAC), a group of five nations, will invest a combined total of $400 million in laying broadband cables in the coming years. With the undersea and terrestrial fiber cables laid, the groundwork will be in place for all of East Africa to be connected directly.
In Burundi, the reported plans include laying 1,300 kilometers of fiber optic cable, partially funded by the World Bank. The funding for Southern Sudan and Somalia, however, is less concrete at this point, as governments and private sector players are only at the formation stage, with Seacom leading the way.
Seacom’s announcement came despite the spread of land fighting on the border of North and South Sudan this past week, where reportedly more than 53,000 Southern Sudanese citizens fled their homes. Despite the fighting, Seacom spokesman Julius Opio remained optimistic.
However, Mr. Opio has expressed other concerns, including the low portion of the Internet community that is owned and produced by Africans. Establishing broadband infrastructure in Africa, Mr. Opio argues, will increase African ownership and power in the Internet sphere.
“Today, the majority of internet content consumed in Africa is non-African, flowing from Europe and North America into Africa. …We believe that the growth of the African ICT market, including mobile penetration and the eager adoption of social networking, coupled with the development of cloud services will result in a rapid increase in content on African soil.”
Slideshow from Steve Song, and video from Seacom and CreamerMedia.
