EASSy may impact differently on land locked Zambia.

31 August 2006

New optic fibre developments in land locked Zambia may impact differently on the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) when it becomes a reality.

Zambia has in the recent past seen utility companies such as the Zambia Electricity Company (ZESCO) and the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) lay and commission the installation of optic fibre in their system to provide quality service.

On the Copperbelt, the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) recently commissioned a 520-kilometre fibre optic cable that it uses to supply power and information to its customers including Konkola Copper Mines, Mopani Copper Mines, Chambishi Metals, NFC Africa Mining Plc, Chambishi Mine and Chibuluma Mines. Built by South Africa's Intrinsic Technology, the 24-strand fibre optic network replaced about 520 kilometres of earth wire to link all of CEC's 220 kilovolt (KV) and 66 KV substations.

ZESCO has started laying optic fibre at the cost of US $11 million and will lease out excess band width.In an interview, ZESCO chief engineer for telecommunications Nang�alelwa Sitwala said that the project will last for nine months and that it will help their company in improving communication
and information systems.

Asked if they were duplicating work as ZAMTEL is the company in Zambia which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the EASSy consortium to link Zambia to the international fibre optic network, Sitwala said that ZESCO was not duplicating work but was installing fibre to enhance the company�s business information systems, operations and monitoring systems.
Sitwala pointed out that ZESCO has just been hearing and reading about EASSy and was not in the position to say anything as the company knows that ZAMTEL is the only company which has signed a Memorandum of understanding with the EASSy consortium.

Mr. Sitwala added that ZESCO will sell to other licensed Telecom operators both private and public and not to retail customers. He said the rollout plan for the company will be for the whole country with optic fibre project on 66 to 330 KV lines. ZET, a Chinese firm was awarded the contract last year after a detailed survey of the project had been carried out.

Meanwhile, speaking during the national consultative workshop on EASSy in Lusaka recently, One World Africa Executive Director, Priscilla Jere said that the lack of adequate ICT infrastructure to support high quality and high speed internet connection in sub Saharan Africa is recognised as a major obstacle to the regions achievement of economic and social development. Ms. Jere observed that Africa currently pays an estimated US$400 million annually in routing data traffic through the more expensive satellite system. �The East African Coast is currently the only one without a link to the international fibre optic network which makes connectivity in this region both costly and less reliable. Zambia is equally affected by this state of affairs,� said Jere.

This workshop was organised by OneWorld Africa and the Center for ICT policy in East and Central Africa (CIPESA) based in Uganda.

Ms. Jere explained that the proposed East African sub marine cable system seeks to link Eastern and Southern Africa to the fibre optic system.

She said a resolution during the a summit held in Nairobi in 2002 was that a fibre optic maritime cable covering the Eastern sea coast of Africa be installed to benefit countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Mozambique and Zambia.

Speaking at the same workshop, President for Computer Society of Zambia Milner Makuni said there was need for much more capacity to provide value added services for the last mile connectivity following the laying of optic fibre by utility companies in Zambia.

Mr. Makuni pointed out that electricity power utilities in the region like the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has been selling fibre capacity for some time now and that it works well for them. He observed that utility companies need fibre optic networks to manage their infrastructure as well as to render quality services.

EASSy, the background

The East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is the proposed international fibre optic network that seeks to link the eastern and part of Southern Africa to the international fibre optic system. The idea to lay the cable was first mooted during the first African Business leaders Summit held in Nairobi in November 2002. The Summit was attended by business leaders from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In a business manifesto adopted at that summit, it was resolved that a fibre-optic maritime cable covering the eastern seaboard of Africa would be installed to benefit countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Mozambique and Zambia. Private telecom operators who agreed to initiate the project and form the lead consortium were named as TELCOM Kenya, Tanzania Telecommunications Company (TTCL), Uganda telecom (UTL), Mobile Telephone Network (MTN Uganda), Zanzibar Telecom and the National Media Group. A number of unspecified data operators were also part of the lead consortium.

EASSy was envisaged to cost US$300 million and be completed by June 2005. The project was conceived to be private-sector-led, with public sector involvement and donor assistance. The proposed construction of the 9,900 km fibre optic cable systems is designed to link Mtunzini (south Africa), Maputo ( Mozambique), Toliary (Madagascar), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Mombassa (Kenya), Mogadishu (Somalia), Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti) and Port Sudan (Sudan). The project work is coordinated by the EASSy secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya. Although discussions on funding models and the role of other stakeholders notably government and the World Bank are still underway, a number of international companies have already tendered for the construction work. These include; Tyco of the United States, NEC and Fujitsu (Japan) and Alcatel (France).

The fact that the East African coast is currently the only one without a link to the international fibre optic network makes connectivity in the region quite costly and less reliable. The region is the only one in Sub- Saharan Africa that plays a high price for lacking a direct link to the international fibre optic system. It also incurs a lot of expenses in routing international traffic through European and United States of American carriers due to the lack of a cheaper and more efficient international data carrier like the marine fibre optic cables. It was therefore envisaged that Eastern and Southern African countries borrow a leaf from their counterparts on the Western coast of the continent, which is currently benefiting from SAT3�a high capacity optic fibre that has been laid along the Western coast of Africa, from Morocco to South Africa- to provide cheaper and more efficient communication with the rest of the world. It is estimated that the cable will, if constructed, reduce connection costs in eastern and southern Africa by more than 50 per cent.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in December 2003 by ten consortium members. By March 2006, 33 parties had signed the MoU and more subscribers are expected to sign on.

Over US$200m had so far been attracted in investment following a meeting held in South Africa in January 2006. Among those who have expressed interest in investing in EASSy are the telecommunications industry, international funding institutions and regional governments. A feasibility study has indicated that the project cost of US$ 200 million will include US$ 170 million for the system supply and US$30 million for project management. This excludes the cable station building and ancillary services. The project cost is however, expected to rise when the committee finalises the funding structure in the first quarter of 2006 and as more firms sign up. The South African meeting was held to formally unveil the project to a commercial, telecommunications and banking audience with a view of attracting capital.

Although it was originally designed to be completed by June 2005, latest indicators show that the cable will go live in 2007. Initially, only 20GB of the estimated available 320GB of bandwidth will be switched on, though this will be doubled to 640GB if the need arises. The completion of the system will undoubtedly serve as a classic example of how African and global telecommunications companies can work with regional institutions to develop telecoms infrastructure in areas where the level of international telephone traffic per main line is the highest in the world. It would also enable telecommunications operators to access emerging markets in voice, mobile and internet communications and reduce their dependence on satellite. Ultimately, the low cost of connectivity will mean that more consumers will have access to information and communication technology and high quality broadband will allow the region�s industries and business to be more competitive in the global world economy.

Ends