Oliver Says

Now we want to have our own Internet fibre optic cable, expected to cost $110m, which is about Ksh. 8 Billion that will run from Mombasa to Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. My greatest question is dont we have more problems that this money could help solve other than technology?

If I was asked, Internet is quite accessible and affordable in Kenya currently. Though I dont dispute that the fact that a lot of East Africans will benefit by the reduction of the Internet rates, I think will are running faster than our economy may handle.

We should be careful before we rush into this. Donors may give us the money to lay the cable but the cost of maintenace must also be considered.

The undersea telecommunications cable, East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) 23-nation plan that Kenya shyed away from after disagreeing with South Africa about the cost and management of the project could have been the best way to go for this developing country. The system which will be capable of carrying 320Gbit/s end-to-end, with a cable length is approximately 9,900km at an estimated cost of US$ 200 million (Ksh. 15 Billion) seems more viable than going it alone.

I will be able to blog more and easily with faster and cheaper Internet but I think we are such a young economy to go it alone in this.

Labels: EASSy, Internet, Kenya

Posted by Reflective Kenyan on Saturday, September 09, 2006 at 8:18 PM | Permalink