Another Fibre Optic Cable to Land in Tanzania

[Invisible]

Written by Michael Malakata
15.04.2010 | IDG News Service

After several delays, the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project has come closer to completion following the landing of the cable in Tanzania.

EASSY is expected to provide competition to the Seacom cable upon completion in the end of June this year. EASSY will be the largest submarine cable serving sub-Saharan Africa, connecting nine countries along the east coast and unlike other cables providing onward connectivity to Europe, the America, the Middle East and Asia.

The cable that was brought ashore last week is connected to the Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel) landing station in Tanzania and will interconnect with domestic and international networks. The landing of the cable further serves to raise the overall broadband capacity for the east and southern African region and is expected to bring down the cost of broadband services.

The landing of the cable in Tanzania comes only two weeks after the cable landed in Kenya. The cable is also expected to connect landlocked member countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana.

Until recently, the east coast of African was the longest coastline in the world without access to reliable, high-speed Internet and international connectivity via optic-fiber submarine cables. The region now has three undersea cables including the Teams and Seacom cables that provides connectivity to the Middle East and Europe.

Chris Wood, CEO of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), the largest investor in the EASSY project, said the landing of the cable will improve Tanzania's connectivity across the east Africa region and to the rest of the World. He said the cable will bring telecommunication development in Africa, positioning Africa on a par with other developed nations.

"We expect that internet connection costs would drastically come down with increased competition in tandem with international standards," Wood said.

Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) Director General John Nkoma said the agency has put structures in place to ensure a business-friendly environment that will enable startups to enter the communications sector.

EASSY is a critical element in Tanzania's strategy to improve communications and broaden access to information throughout the country as well as neighboring countries in order to support business growth. Zambia is connecting to the cable through Tanzania.

Zantel, a local telecom company and EASSY shareholder that is hosting the landing station, said various mechanisms have been put in place to encourage competition, such as ensuring that the capacity of the cable is available on an "open access" basis.

Wood said the project continues to run as planned, with nearly 90 percent of the cable now laid in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Testing is expected to start at the end of the month, in readiness for the System Ready for Service date of June 30.

 

[Kamuzu]

Baabu kubwa , hayo ndiyo maneno tunangoja kusikia, simu wanajitahidi kutupunguzia gharama bado kidogo tuanze kufaidi na internet kwa bei poa na hayo ndoo maisha

.....................................

Amanii yetu inatumiwa vibaya.

 

[MIUNDOMBINU]

Bomba sana

 

[Tusker Bariiiidi]

Tuombe Mungu hizi Eassy na Seacom zisiwafanye Host wake watufanye turudishe gharama za kuilaza huko baharini...

 

[Ramthods]

EASSy cable lands in Tanzania

EASSy cable is getting closer to completion after the undersea cable, delivering 1.4 Terabits per second of capacity, landed on 6 April in Tanzania, Msasani Peninsula.
The ship laying 5000km long undersea fibre optic cable for The East Africa Submarine Cable System arrived on Tuesday night, 6 April, on the Tanzanian shore and started the cable laying process the following morning, according to Tanzanian Daily News.

“Interconnection with other undersea international cable systems will enable traffic on EASSy to seamlessly connect to Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia, thereby enhancing the east coast of Africa’s connectivity to the global telecommunications network”, said West Indian Ocean Cable Company Chief Executive Officer, Chriss Wood, present at the landing site.
The EASSy cable has landing points in 9 African countries and provides a backhaul system for at least 12 landlocked countries, enabling wide coverage in the East African region.

In Tanzania, Zantel and TTCL have invested in the project, assuming responsibility for selling and distributing capacity to other network operators and internet service providers.
According to Moncef Mettiji, Zantel CTO, the cable is expected to revolutionize Internet technology and provide high speed connectivity in the country.

“EASSy is a critical element in Zantel’s strategy to improve communications and broaden access to information throughout Tanzania and neighbouring countries, thereby enriching lives and supporting business growth”, said Mettiji.

The East African Submarine System (EASSy) comprises of a 10,000km submarine cable system along the east coast of Africa, with 9 landing stations in Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa.

Source: IT News Africa

 

[Eliphaz the Temanite]

What a difference will EASSy make? Can somebody tell exactly what SEACOM has done so far and how the Government is facilitating this high capacity bandwith to improve the lives of individual Tanzanians. Can we forge the possibility of affordable Internet conection in our houses in the near feature? Because, as far as I know nothing preatty much has changed since the arrival of SEACOM!
Somebody gt to tell his/her personal story or else they are just political ingredients towards the election!

 

[freddielly]

Honestly i haven't seen any changes, internet is still expensive; look at how mobile-phone companies and other isps charge for internet bundles. Its pathetic; they have to be controlled.
it was said that internet will be fast and cheap; this is total sham so far

 

[Mpogoro]

What a difference will EASSy make? Can somebody tell exactly what SEACOM has done so far and how the Government is facilitating this high capacity bandwith to improve the lives of individual Tanzanians. Can we forge the possibility of affordable Internet conection in our houses in the near feature? Because, as far as I know nothing preatty much has changed since the arrival of SEACOM!
Somebody gt to tell his/her personal story or else they are just political ingredients towards the election!

Nafikiri baada ya muda mfupi mabadiliko yatatokea.Makampuni mengi tayari yalikuwa kwenye mikataba na makampuni ya SATELLITE na hakuna nafasi yangevunja mikataba,nafikiri ni kuvuta subira wakati makampuni yana-switch taratibu kwenda kwenye SEACOM na hiyo EASSy.Changamoto kubwa ambayo naiona mimi hiko kwenye pricing and products ambazo ziko kwenye market...by all standards tumekuwa tunalipa pesa nyingi kwa matumizi ya mtandao....yaani imekuwa kama luxury fulani...makampuni yanataka yapate faida 300% kitu ambacho kinaumiza watu wengi!

 

[Ramthods]

Kupungua gharama katika internet hazitakuja ghafla kama wengi tunavyodhani. Tuna mifano mingi sana, na mfano mkubwa ni gharama za simu. Tuangalie mabadiliko katika gharama za simu ndani ya miaka mitano iliyopita, tofauti ni kubwa sana.

Kinachotakiwa hapa ni ushindani wa kibiashara, na ndio utakuwa suluhisho la kudumu katika bei.

Pili, internet penetration hapa TZ ipo chini sana. Kuwa na watumiaji wadogo, au soko dongo kunachangia pia kuwa na gharama kubwa za malipo.

Kuna mtu mwenye takwimu ni wateja wangapi TTCL imesajili wa broadband? Au ni kiasi gani cha GB/TB TTCL inauza kwa wateja wake kila mwezi?

 

[Boney E.M.]

My friends SEACOM are still laying the infrastructure for the Optic Fiber so I believe something good gonna come out of these efforts. Lets give it some more time.

 

[Magezi]

Tatizo Watanzania bwana maneno yanakuwa mengi mpaka tunaona kama vile ni uzushi tu. Kelele za Seacom mara EASy mara sijui nini ...eeh. Ngoja tusubiri lakini.

 

[Amoeba]

http://www.ttcl.co.tz/Broadband_Prices.asp

mabadiliko mbona yanaonekana hapo jamani? atleat ttcl wamepunguza 50%!!

 

[PakaJimmy]

Sioni hata effect ya hizi optic fibres!Tangu imekuja ile ya mwanzo hadi leobado wanasema inafungwa, wataalamu wanakuja...visa vingi kibao...Let us see the difference people!...Its not time for ample wording!

 

[Ramthods]

mabadiliko mbona yanaonekana hapo jamani? atleat ttcl wamepunguza 50%!!

Me nadhani 1GB ingekuwa 20,000 kwa mwezi, na 2GB ingekuwa 30,000 - 35,000.

Pia, wangeingiza pakage nyingine ya 1.5GB

2GB kwa 60,000 kwa maisha ya mzanzania ni gharama sana jamani.

Me natumia TTCL pia, nalipa hiyo 60,000 - lakini kwa maisha yetu watanzania hii ni gharama kubwa mno.

 

[Amoeba]

Me nadhani 1GB ingekuwa 20,000 kwa mwezi, na 2GB ingekuwa 30,000 - 35,000.

Pia, wangeingiza pakage nyingine ya 1.5GB

2GB kwa 60,000 kwa maisha ya mzanzania ni gharama sana jamani.

Me natumia TTCL pia, nalipa hiyo 60,000 - lakini kwa maisha yetu watanzania hii ni gharama kubwa mno.

ni kweli kabisa mkuu
lakini ukilinganisha na ghalama za hapo mwanzo naona sasa ninafuu kidogo, mimi nadhani muda si mrefu watakuja washindani wa ttcl na gharama zitashuka.

 

[Ramthods]

lakini ukilinganisha na ghalama za hapo mwanzo naona sasa ninafuu kidogo, mimi nadhani muda si mrefu watakuja washindani wa ttcl na gharama zitashuka.

Yah, I think you are right. Hata me nadhani ndivyo itakavyokuwa. Cha msingi ni ushindani!

 

[BrainPower]

Kweli Ushindani unanukia.

Hivi EASSY watauza bandwidth as little as 2mbps tena with contracts as small as 1 Month !!

Can anybody give us 411 on the prices ? This is very different from Seacom wholesale structure.

B.P



Construction of East Africa`s fibre optic cable complete

The Guardian Reporter

The construction of WIOCC's East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is complete, marking the achievement of yet another major milestone towards the launch of what will be the largest cable system serving the sub-Saharan Africa and connecting it to the world.
Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC - the largest shareholder in EASSy, told Xinhua while finalising an extremely successful construction programme, the joining of the two segments making up EASSy cable - the so- called "final splice" - took place a few days ahead of schedule early Monday.
"Now that this critical stage of the project has been completed successfully and ahead of time, we will start system testing almost immediately. Once this is finalised, we are looking forward to connecting our first customers to the network from July 2010," Wood said.
"At WIOCC, we are also working with our shareholders to deliver high-speed, fibre-optic connectivity not just to the EASSy landing stations but deep into the interior of Africa. This will enable us to satisfy the growing customer demand for end-to-end service and provide improved geographic reach," the CEO added.
EASSy's affordable pricing and open access structure also promise to revolutionise many African markets, bringing flexible, cost-effective international connectivity to fixed line, mobile and data network operators and ISPs throughout east, central and southern Africa.
The installation phase of the project, which started in Maputo, Mozambique in December 2009, was completed on board the cable laying vessel Ile de Batz in the Indian Ocean just off the east African coast. "A key difference between EASSy and other sub-Saharan systems is that our system will deliver connectivity to Europe via a direct route through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea," said WIOCC's Chief Technology Officer Ryan Sher, chairman of EASSy's Technical Working Group.
He said EASSy will be the first east coast system to connect directly to Europe, minimizing the time taken for traffic from Africa to reach the key internet peering points in Europe and North America, and vice versa. "With the vast majority of international traffic being IP and internet-based, and with most African traffic destined for Europe and the US where the most popular content and applications are located, our ability to deliver content faster gives us and our customers a competitive edge in the market," said Sher.
"Other east coast systems use longer routes via the Middle East or India; our optimised routing means that we are able to offer the lowest latency service to our customers," added Sher.
According to James Wekesa, WIOCC's chief commercial officer, "WIOCC-EASSy offers carriers in Africa affordable high-speed connectivity into other parts of the continent, and direct access to key internet exchange points in Europe and North America."
According to Wekesa, for international carriers, it offers a reliable high-capacity route into parts of Africa that have previously been seen as difficult-to-reach locations. "In both cases it does so with a degree of commercial flexibility that has until now been completely unattainable. At WIOCC, we are offering connectivity from as little as 2Mbps (Megabits per second) for one month, up to multiple Gbps (Gigabits per second) wavelengths for the lifetime of the system, and thereby leveling the playing field for small, medium and large organizations," Wekesa said.
WIOCC-EASSy offers African service providers a competitive edge, international carriers unmatched coverage, and businesses and consumers in the region an improved online experience, at lower cost and delivering high-quality access to global information and international markets.


THE GUARDIAN

 

[Livanga]

Written by Michael Malakata
15.04.2010 | IDG News Service

After several delays, the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project has come closer to completion following the landing of the cable in Tanzania.

EASSY is expected to provide competition to the Seacom cable upon completion in the end of June this year. EASSY will be the largest submarine cable serving sub-Saharan Africa, connecting nine countries along the east coast and unlike other cables providing onward connectivity to Europe, the America, the Middle East and Asia.

The cable that was brought ashore last week is connected to the Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel) landing station in Tanzania and will interconnect with domestic and international networks. The landing of the cable further serves to raise the overall broadband capacity for the east and southern African region and is expected to bring down the cost of broadband services.

The landing of the cable in Tanzania comes only two weeks after the cable landed in Kenya. The cable is also expected to connect landlocked member countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana.

Until recently, the east coast of African was the longest coastline in the world without access to reliable, high-speed Internet and international connectivity via optic-fiber submarine cables. The region now has three undersea cables including the Teams and Seacom cables that provides connectivity to the Middle East and Europe.

Chris Wood, CEO of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), the largest investor in the EASSY project, said the landing of the cable will improve Tanzania's connectivity across the east Africa region and to the rest of the World. He said the cable will bring telecommunication development in Africa, positioning Africa on a par with other developed nations.

"We expect that internet connection costs would drastically come down with increased competition in tandem with international standards," Wood said.

Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) Director General John Nkoma said the agency has put structures in place to ensure a business-friendly environment that will enable startups to enter the communications sector.

EASSY is a critical element in Tanzania's strategy to improve communications and broaden access to information throughout the country as well as neighboring countries in order to support business growth. Zambia is connecting to the cable through Tanzania.

Zantel, a local telecom company and EASSY shareholder that is hosting the landing station, said various mechanisms have been put in place to encourage competition, such as ensuring that the capacity of the cable is available on an "open access" basis.

Wood said the project continues to run as planned, with nearly 90 percent of the cable now laid in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Testing is expected to start at the end of the month, in readiness for the System Ready for Service date of June 30.

Je tunayo Liquid Telcom tunayo Tanzania?