EASSy is on its way
Construction of the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) fast internet and broadband fibre-optic wire is due for completion by 2010.
The implementation of the US$248 million project followed the conclusion of meetings in late February, in Tanzania, by stakeholders in EASSy, to discuss outstanding issues of attaining a financial closure.
EASSy will connect 21 African countries to each other and the world with high-quality internet and international communications services.
“EASSy will transform the telecommunications landscape in the eastern and southern African regions by improving access for over 250 million Africans,” Simon Olawo at the EASSy Project Secretariat said in a statement to the press.
EASSy is expected to provide cost effective, competitive, affordable access continentally from the eastern half of northern Africa right down to all of southern Africa. According to Olawo, it will provide access to the hinterland and landlocked countries, and to the world.
Members of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company Limited (WIOCC) fund the cable. These include Djibouti Telecom (Djibouti), Dalkom (Somalia), Telkom Kenya (Kenya), Uganda Telecom (Uganda), Zanzibar Telecom (Tanzania), ONATEL (Burundi), UCOM (Burundi), Gilat (Nigeria), Botswana Telecom (Botswana) and Telecommunicacðes de Mocambique - TDM (Mozambique).
Along with its parties' equity contributions of US$20 million, WIOCC secured a syndicated loan of US$70.7 million from the African Development Bank, the development bank of France (AFD), the European Investment Bank, Germany's development bank and International Finance Corporation.
The 10,500 km cable, from the Cape to the Horn of Africa, will connect South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Tanzania, and Kenya and Uganda and other countries.
