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Zantel is through with work on vital submarine cable network
2008-04-26 09:53:35
By Gadiosa Lamtey
Mobile phone service provider Zantel has completed construction of the East African Submarine Cable Network System (EASSY), a project coordinator has announced.
Eassy is a fibre-optic cable project planned to connect 21 African countries to each other and to the rest of world with high quality internet and international communication services.
Eassy project coordinator John Sihra told journalists in Dar es Salaam on Thursday that the system would transform the telecommunication landscape in the eastern and southern African regions by improving access to over 250 million people in Africa.
``Eassy, which is set up to operate as a non-profit initiative, will simultaneously bring about substantial bandwidth cost reductions to the countries where its members operate, as well as benefit consumers and businesses,`` he said.
Construction of he Eassy submarine cable signalled a milestone for state-of-the-art high speed wideband information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, said Sihra.
He said the system would provide cost-effective, competitive and affordable access continentally from the eastern half of northern Africa right down to all of southern Africa.
The cable will run 10,500 kilometers from the continent\'s southern tip to the Horn of Africa, connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, the Comoros, Mayotte, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan.
A further 13 countries adjoining land-locked countries would also be linked to the system as terrestrial backbone networks were completed by the relevant participating parties.
The countries include Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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