Internet Solutions eyes Eassy

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Cape Town, 06 Oct 2006

Internet Solutions (IS) wants to be part of the East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy), despite the uncertainty of the economic model, says Internet Solutions director Hillel Shrock.

The company feels strongly it should be part of the Eassy consortium as it uses more bandwidth and is probably richer than many of the national telecommunications companies that could become part of the project, says Schrock.

"We have the bandwidth requirements and we have the funds to become part of the Eassy," he says.

IS has not been invited to be part of the Eassy consortium because it was licensed as a value-added network service under the now defunct Telecommunications Act and not as a proper telecommunications utility. However, the new licensing regime that is due to come out of the new Electronic Communications (EC) Act could enable IS to become part of the consortium.

"The whole environment will change under the EC Act, and while we don`t yet know what type of licence we will finally get, we do believe it should allow us to become part of Eassy," Shrock says.

Eassy, which falls under the jurisdiction of the e-Africa Commission, is a strategic part of the New Economic Partnership for Africa`s Development, led by South African president Thabo Mbeki. The aim is to lay a fibre optic cable to connect the eastern African seaboard to link up with undersea cables in the Indian Ocean. The project is expected to cost around $300 million (R2.4 billion).

Commercial viability

According to a Highway Africa News Agency report last month, the Eassy protocol does not have the buy-in of all the governments and telecommunications operators, which could seriously undermine the commercial viability of the project.

In early September, Telkom said it would only participate in Eassy if it was commercially viable and that it had made no commitment to participating. However, Neotel, the second national operator, indicated later that it was in favour of the project.

The Kenyan government has withdrawn completely from Eassy in order to build its own $110 million connection that would link that country into undersea cables in the Gulf of Oman.

"Kenya has other options at its disposal, but its withdrawal from Eassy serves as a warning on the governance of the project," Shrock says. However, despite all these setbacks to the project, IS is still keen to take part.

Shrock says the size of the company`s bandwidth requirements mean it should have a clear and undisputed right to access the undersea cable, and the change in the South African regulatory environment should facilitate that right.

"If the [South African] government wants to send a message that Eassy should be an open access model, then all the more reason for us to be included in the consortium," he says.

Shrock says IS has been in discussions with a number of parties, including governments and telecommunications operators, about its possible Eassy participation.

The company is owned by South African IT group Dimension Data, which has former Department of Communications director-general, Andile Ngcaba, as its chairman.