Observations on fibre optics

Jimiya Odoye, owner of a Nairobi internet cafe, has seen his profits plummet as the global economic crisis has unfolded. “I couldn’t afford to pay my staff, so in January they had to go,” he says. But new fibre-optic cables to the coast of East Africa, laid down in “deep-sea avenues”, will soon replace more expensive satellite connectivity – and save him costs.

Europe and North America began using fibre optics for broadband internet years ago. More than 500 cables now link the developed world, but Africa is connected by only ten, and East Africa is the last area on earth with none at all.

Three companies hope to complete their cables to East Africa by the end of 2010, linking the ports of Mombasa, Mogadishu and Dar es Salaam with India, the United Arab Emirates and Europe. Those laid down by Seacom, a private venture that is three-quarters African-owned, will be the first to go live in June.

The president of Seacom, Brian Herlihy, is confident that the 15,000-kilometre cable will be completed on schedule, despite its complexity. “You’re trying to offer one seamless product to end-users spanning 11 sovereign nations,” he points out. But his will not be the only scheme. The other two sets of cables will reach different cities in the region via different routes, offering both greater accessibility and commercial competition.

For Kenya, fibre optics will allow the lucrative outsourcing industry to grow. The call-centre business in Kenya has already grown from 200 employees in 2005 to 3,000 today, despite having had to rely on the significantly slower satellite technology. Bitange Ndemo, the country’s communications chief, believes Kenya could soon rival the call-centre industries in India and South Africa.

Odoye expects his internet subscription charge to fall from around £180 to £80 per month. Although this will benefit his customers, few in a country where internet users are a small minority – three million out of 40 million – will gain in the short term. What the fibre technology does provide, according to Ken Banks, founder of an NGO specialising in mobile technology in developing countries, is the potential for change.

“It won’t be immediate; there isn’t the infrastructure,” he says. “But we will see innovative use of the new bandwidth available. Communities will set up ways to use the connection collectively, making the internet more widely accessible.”

Mobile technology is seen as the means by which broadband will eventually become widespread in Africa. In recent years, mobile-phone possession has become widespread across the continent, although models with internet access are pricey and uncommon at the moment. The solutions to price and connectivity won’t come immediately, but fibre optics will help. For now, however, Jimiya Odoye eagerly awaits the first cable – and the new era of technology it will bring.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website