East Africa is largest populated coastline in the world that doesn’t have fibre optic connectivity. However, it is expected that it will be hooked up properly by the end of October.
It will cost around £322 million to lay the 9,300 miles long cable and connect it to the international grid in India and France. For that project most of the money has been provided by the African investors.
This cable connection will surely help to change the communications network in East Africa where communication networks rely on quite expensive satellite connections and this is the basic factor that makes the region one of the expensive places for the internet and phone calls.
At present, it costs almost £75 a month to run a phone or internet connection in Kenya. It is expected that the fibre optic will decrease these connection cost in East Africa.
In an interview with the Guardian, Nicholas Nesbitt who is CEO of African Company Kencall told that it had become essential to have fibre-optic links in the fast shrinking world of today.
The cable will be laid in October, but it would be able to run till 2010 just before the football world cup that will hold in South Africa.
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