Laying the cable, which commenced in May last year, was supposed to be completed in December last year and once complete the link was expected to bolster service provision by state-owned telecommunications companies NetOne and TelOne.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry Permanent Secretary Sam Kundishora says, "Progress is there but it is slow because our government has other priorities besides this project so the funds are limited."
"The trenching is complete all the way to Bulawayo but fibre optic cables have been placed only up to Gweru. We are still working on starting the Bulawayo-Gwanda route," he added.
Kundishora says it will be difficult to meet the revised mid-year target unless adequate funding is available.
Zimbabwe finished installing the Harare-Mozambique link at a total cost of US$6.3 million in 2009.
The government embarked on the fibre optic projects to improve broadband services as the existing Mazowe earth satellite link is expensive and hadslimited Internet services capacity.
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Quelle/Source: Bernama, 19.03.2012
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