WCA January 2012

Industry news

Uganda’s fibre Internet backbone

In the final phase, which begins in January, 307km of fibre will be laid from the Uganda capital, Kampala, to the Rwanda border to complete a link from the Kenyan port town of Mombasa. James Saka, the executive director of the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), said the 24-core, 2.5GB cable, with potential for upgrade to 10GB, will provide high-speed Internet bandwidth to support IT-enabled services such as business process outsourcing (BPO). It will also enhance efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to the citizens of Uganda through electronic transactions such as e-taxation, e- health and e-learning.

Uganda has inaugurated the second phase of an Internet backbone infrastructure stretching 1,380km (855 miles) and bringing the total amount of fibre optics laid in the country so far to 1,548km.  The second phase of the project comes more than four years after the first phase of the US$106 million National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and the Electronic Government Infrastructure (EGI) initiative. The second phase has linked Uganda to neighbours Kenya in the east and South Sudan to the north. The Chinese government sourced and recommended Huawei Technologies to carry out the project. The Uganda NBI is part of an East Africa-wide terrestrial fibre-optic cable, which will, when complete, cover 15,600km linking the five countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

Huawei Technologies – China Email : info@huawei.com Website : www.huawei.com

The Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable arrived in Sierra Leone in early October, an event hailed by President Ernest Koroma as opening the country to the world, with the promise of providing job opportunities and reducing the cost of communications when it becomes operational before the end of 2012. Launched by France Telecom as part of a consortium with telecom operators in participating countries, the 17,000km ACE cable will run from France to South Africa, connecting 23 countries either directly or indirectly, and will provide a significant boost in broadband access. At the landing ceremony, Shadi Al-Gerjawi, CEO of Sierra Leone’s largest mobile operator, Africell, said the cable would provide more than 40 times the bandwidth currently serving the close to six million people in the country. Until now, Sierra Leone has relied on highly expensive satellite bandwidth for Internet connections. ACE fibre-optic cable lands in Sierra Leone

France Telecom – France Website : www.orange.com

Email : info@orange.com

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2012