It's been an arduous journey that commenced with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in early 2004. Then came the high-point of 12 October 2006 with the signing of the Eastern Africa Submarine System (Eassy) construction and maintenance agreement in Nairobi, Kenya.
Another milestone was reached on 23 February 2007 when the members of the project met in Nairobi and agreed to pledge in excess of $200 million for the project.
Today, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Eassy cable project takes a giant leap forward with the official signing of a turnkey supply contract. This follows the finalisation of the supply contract in Pretoria, South Africa, by the Eassy consortium from 6 to 8 March 2007.
The supply contract has been signed by the 23-member Eassy consortium with Alcatel-Lucent, which will lay the first optical submarine cable network landing in East Africa.
The 9 900km high performance fibre optic cable will link eight countries from Sudan to South Africa, via Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Landings are planned for Port Sudan, Djibouti, Mogadishu (Somalia), Mombasa (Kenya) Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Tollary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mtunzini (South Africa).
Based on Alcatel-Lucent's submarine and terrestrial optical solutions, Eassy will connect the eastern African seaboard as well as landlocked countries, to the rest of the world. It will also provide connectivity across the continent to support the increase in local traffic from existing and new broadband services.
"Despite many challenges, Eassy parties proudly announce that Eassy is now a reality. Telecom operators have confirmed their participation in Eassy by signing on the dotted line," said John Sihra, Director of ZANTEL Tanzania and the Eassy project coordinator.
Sammy Kirui, the chairman of the Eassy Project Management Committee (PMC) and Managing Director of Telkom Kenya, stated: "We promised Eassy to the Eastern and southern African governments, communities and other stakeholders, and rest assured, we will deliver on this promise."
Telkom South Africa COO, Reuben September, added that as one of the consortium members, Telkom will now have the opportunity to expand its footprint further into Africa, creating further opportunities for access to future potential markets.
"Coming soon after our acquisition of Africa Online, this latest development certainly represents a strategic fit with our growth and expansion ambitions in Africa," stated September.
In addition, September said the Eassy cable added to the diversity of solutions that form part of the total ICT solution from Telkom. "In delivering a regional capacity of up to 320Gbit/s, Eassy complements and increases Telkom's capacity, especially with regard to taking the 2010 World Cup to the rest of the world."
Emphasising that Telkom consistently strives to enhance customer experience of its products and services, September stated that customers would now benefit from a telecommunications network that would become even more robust. "Eassy promises a new era of real cost benefits from this direct connection into East Africa for operators and customers."
Added September: "Customers also stand to benefit immensely because by complementing existing undersea networks, Eassy ensures continuity of service in times of natural disasters. It will also alleviate congestion during periods of peak traffic."
By interconnecting with Sea-Me-WE 3, Sea-Me-We 4 and SAT3/SAFE, the Eassy undersea cable will also serve as a supporting infrastructure for these networks. Landlocked states such as Ethiopia, Botswana, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe will also be able to access the Eassy cable.
The Eassy project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008.
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