It will have the capability to maintain two million phone calls simultaneously, marking a revolutionary transformation in Internet access and affordability in Uganda.
The $600 million (over sh1200 billion) investment will link Africa to Europe and Asia via the Middle East, providing one of the cheapest alternatives to sharing information across the globe.
The market price of one megabyte per second of broadband has been averaging $2500-$5,000 (about sh5m - sh10m) in East Africa. SEACOM’s initial offer will be between $50 and $100 (about sh100,00 and sh200,000), depending on the volumes of bandwidth bought, according to the firm’s director, Dr Kevin Karuiki.
The information and communications technology minister, Aggrey Awori, speaking at the launch at the Kampala Serena Hotel, described it as the ‘advent of a new age’.
“With a national policy on ICT and national ICT Act about to be passed, the people are being ushered into a new age. This will be one of the great levelling tools of our time,” said Awori.
SEACOM was simultaneously switched on in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania.
The company will sell broadband to Internet service providers who then will retail it to individuals and companies.
“Other life-enhancing discipline, such as educational, clinical and scientific research, which rely on real-time sharing of data around the world, will also become a reality for many African organisations,” said Fred Moturi, the company’s representative in Uganda.
SEACOM opens Africa’s world to students and teachers accessing on-line curriculum, creative minds selling their works to the world and doctors conducting complicated medical procedures with the guidance of their expert colleagues from distant lands.
SEACOM is a privately funded venture with 76.25% of the stake owned by Africans.
Uganda is set to begin the second phase of the countrywide laying of the fibre optic cable next month in the national e-government programme. The arrival of SEACOM submarine cables makes it a viable investment as opposed to the expensive satellite.
According to Hans Haertle, chief executive officer of Infocom, a local service provider, satellite will now be used as back-up.
But Uganda must quickly perch up the holes created by low electricity penetration that is a prerequisite for the full exploitation of the Internet. Less than 10% of the population have electricity, meaning the entrance of the SEACOM will remain a white elephant unless the Government speeds up the process of extending power to the entire country, as well as educating the masses about its development potential.
Two other submarine cables, EASSY and TEAMS, are set to land, which will offer further alternatives to the market and usher increased competition.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Mugabe
Quelle/Source: The New Vision, 24.07.2009
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