WCA January 2012

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Industrynews
Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2012 17
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.
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.
Huawei Technologies – China
Email :
Website:
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.
France Telecom – France Email :
Website:
Uganda’s
fibre Internet
backbone
ACE fibre-optic cable
lands in Sierra Leone