The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live, BBC online reports Thursday.
The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia. The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the regions industry and commerce.
The cable – which is 17.000 km long – took two years to lay and cost more than 650 million US dollar. Seacom said the launch of the cable marked the “dawn of a new era for communications” between Africa and the rest of the world.
But the internet revolution largely depends on how well the service is rolled out across the region. To the disappointment of many consumers some ISPs (internet service providers) are not planning to lower the cost of the internet, but instead will offer increased bandwidth.
Businesses, though, which have been paying around 3.000 dollar a month for 1MB through a satellite link, will now pay considerably less – about 600 a month.
