East Africa Fibre Optic Cable: Connectivity, issues & progress

[CottonEyeJoe]

I think that pricing is incorrect, I believe the wholesale price is more like $40 per 1MB

 

[Kang]

SEACOM, set to be operational by 17 June 2009, has released an aggressive pricing structure on international bandwidth.
SEACOM and Tyco Telecommunications began construction of the 13 700 km South and East Africa submarine cable systems towards the end of last year.
The SEACOM project is already fully funded with African investors Industrial Promotion Services, Venfin, Convergence Partners and Shanduka Group owning 76.25% of the project.
Pricing
Brian Herlihy, SEACOM president, said that the idea behind the cable is to offer international bandwidth at a lower price but to increase usage to ensure profits.
In a move seldom experienced in the local telecoms arena, SEACOM revealed their wholesale pricing structure and strategy to the media.
The company will have a four tiered bandwidth pricing approach where bandwidth prices for larger products, in this case STM-64, STM-16 and STM-4 connections, are sold at reduced rates to the standard STM-1 connection.
Their price for an STM-1 connection however sets a roof for the resale of bandwidth by larger bulk-bandwidth buyers thereby ensuring that smaller players receive a competitive rate.
The price for an

STM-64 connection, supplying 9.6 Gbps of bandwidth, is $ 1 663 875 or R 267-00 ( $33) per Mbps per month.



The price per Mbps per month for a STM-1 (155 Mbps) service is R 673-00($83)


while a STM-4 (600 Mbps) connection costs R 575-00 ($71) and a



STM-16 (2.5 Gbps) service will cost R 435-00 ($54).




It should be noted that this is a full bandwidth solution from a local point of presence, typically Johannesburg, to an international destination like London. There is hence no additional local bandwidth cost over and above the international rates. Onward bandwidth arrangements have also been finalized Herlihy said.
This tariff compares vary favorably against the other options in the market. According to SEACOM the R 267-00 per Mbps per month is multiple times lower that of Satellite at R 231 000, Telkom’s SAT3 (JHB/CPT to beach) ranging between R 3 500-00 and R 11 000-00 and EASSy promising rates of R 1 400-00 from the beach to Sudan (local and onward bandwidth charges are likely to increase this price significantly).
The new cable system further committed to reducing the cost of international bandwidth to Universities and Research Institutions in South Africa by 5 000%.
SEACOM and TENET plan to provide these institutions with 50 times more bandwidth than what they currently have.

Naona mambo yatakuwa mazuri saaana!!!

 

[Superman]

"The price per Mbps per month for a STM-1 (155 Mbps) service is R 673-00($83)"

Mkuu; ukishangaa ya Mussa utaona ya Firauni, hizo ndo siasa za biashara . . .

Actuals: Kwa waliosaini MoU ya STM-1 Tayari, purchase price ni $ 700 kwa 1 Mbps (Full Duplex).

You cant sell on loss + Investment. So, the best price to expect is not less than $ 1000 PM.

Some companies ISP has already given prices 1 Mbps between $ 1500 - 1800 Per Mbps.

 

[anthomata43]

optical fiber is very important in Tanzania simply because our internets are very slow currently.

 

[JuaKali]

"The price per Mbps per month for a STM-1 (155 Mbps) service is R 673-00($83)"

Mkuu; ukishangaa ya Mussa utaona ya Firauni, hizo ndo siasa za biashara . . .

Actuals: Kwa waliosaini MoU ya STM-1 Tayari, purchase price ni $ 700 kwa 1 Mbps (Full Duplex).

You cant sell on loss + Investment. So, the best price to expect is not less than $ 1000 PM.

Some companies ISP has already given prices 1 Mbps between $ 1500 - 1800 Per Mbps.

Kitu unachosahau ni kwamba ISP zanatumia methods tofauti kabisa kuuza bandwidth zao. Bandwidth 1Mb inaweza uzwa kwa watu hata 100 kwa bei ya chini kabisa. wenyewe wananunua Mbs Kibao halafu wanaziweka kwenye pool na hiyo pool inakuwa over-subcribed. Lakini wanajua kwa hakika kwamba haitawezekana watu wote waliopo kwenye Pool "A" waka-access / download kwa muda mmoja.
ISP inanunua dedicated line zenye uwezo tofauti.
Endi User(home) ananunua Shared (pool) lines.

 

[Kang]

Kitu unachosahau ni kwamba ISP zanatumia methods tofauti kabisa kuuza bandwidth zao. Bandwidth 1Mb inaweza uzwa kwa watu hata 100 kwa bei ya chini kabisa. wenyewe wananunua Mbs Kibao halafu wanaziweka kwenye pool na hiyo pool inakuwa over-subcribed. Lakini wanajua kwa hakika kwamba haitawezekana watu wote waliopo kwenye Pool "A" waka-access / download kwa muda mmoja.
ISP inanunua dedicated line zenye uwezo tofauti.
Endi User(home) ananunua Shared (pool) lines.

Sijasahau hilo. Tena kama tunashare it should be even cheaper! Kuna gharama zengine of course tusiangalie bandwidth peke yake.

 

[Mutensa]

Wakubwa,
Fiber inategemewa kuwa tayari tarehe 23 July 2009.
Sijajua ujenzi wa mkongo wa taifa wa kusambaza huduma kwa watanzania ukoje pamoja na kuwa makampuni ya simu tayari yana mikongo ya microwave.

 

[Lambardi]

Tanzania tumeshajiandaa kabisa mradi uko 90% finished.....wana test link soon next month...wako tayari kabisa ni bonge la investiment...nilipita hapo last 2 weeks....TTCL wamesha terminate fiber yao tokea town hadi silversand....jamaa wako juu sana...na kuna mpango wa kujenga fiber back bone TZ nzima gharama ni 150m US$...wata share makampuni yote ya simu.....ingawa right nyingi anazo TTCL....mpo?kama una issue zaidi call +255222772621

 

[Isimilo]

kuna route mbili- moja toka Dubai nyingine kutoka South Africa From europe.
makampuni yana subiri kwa hamu individually lakini nionavyo mimi serikali haijafanya maandaandalizi ya kutosha ilil kuwawezesha watanzania wa kawaida kufaidika na mfu mo huu. lakini kumbuka it is not necessary iwe kama simu za ttcl. from a given processing center data zitakuwa zinatumwa kwa wave. kama vile antenna. sio sehemu zoote ziwe kebu. ni point by point.

 

[Tumsifu Samwel]

Jamani ebu msikilizeni Managing Director of Seacom Tanzania, Ms Anna Kahama ,akizungumzia ujio wa fibre optic.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNySxXZGlfI]YouTube - fibre optic ready this month in tanzania.by tumsam[/ame]

naona kaongeza chumvi mno,nimejaribu sana ku-upload mazungumzo yote imeshindikana,kutokana na speed ya mtandao wangu.

 

[mohamedn]

Tembelea kwenye website hii inaweza kukupa baadhi ya maelezo.
SEACOM - South Africa - East Africa - South Asia - Fiber Optic Cable

 

[Yona F. Maro]

Cable may not reach rural areas: experts
By Orton Kiishweko and Gabriel Kagaruki

Local information technology (IT) experts are grappling with the likelihood that the much-awaited SEACOM cable may not reach the majority of rural Tanzanians inspite of the venture�s expectations.

IT experts who spoke to this paper yesterday noted that the anticipation of more masses benefiting from the cable's existence would only come in handy if the Government disseminates public service information online for the majority rural people.

An IT and Digital Security Consultant, Mr Yona Maro, told this paper that the majority of rural people, who are 80 per cent of all Tanzanians, would only be motivated to get online once government services like health, agriculture, education and registration get online.

However, there is also the question of literacy that would require massive investments to enable more people become computer literate.

He said while the major expectation that the cost of connectivity in East Africa would decline still stood, the fact that the majority of public services were not yet online would hamper the prospect of rural people accessing the service.

"The debate about online content has been going on in the region for some time, and the World Bank has approved content grants that are yet to be disbursed.

"Content localization has also been an issue, with some people arguing that the sort of content that would add value to the rural community is different from that which would be valuable to an urban user,"he noted.

He said most of the regional telecom infrastructure initiatives were dictated by commercial agreements between private telecom suppliers.

Thus the governments are always hardpressed between the private sector's motive of increasing shareholder value and reducing price for ordinary users countrywide, he said.

An analyst, Mr Sam Wangwe, said for countries like neighbouring Kenya, Seacom would face direct competition from TEAMS. This is another fibre-optic cable built by the government that could help lower costs.

Therefore, the vibrant cellphone industry will fight a massive price war to attract data subscribers as bundled services already look promising, he said.

He, however, said he was hopeful that once prices drop around Africa, they would also prompt Tanzania to drop its own prices. The reason is that it will begin to lose a comparative advantage if it keeps them artificially high.

Another expert, Mr Eric Beda, noted that there was a challenge for the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as there would be complexities for them to lay down their own fiber cables in the country in order to expand and/or tap into other markets.

He said although there were established fibre projects like belonging to TANESCO and TTCL, it remained a challenge to convince them lease the cables.

Hence it would make no financial sense for ISPs to actually lease these lines to effectively reach other markets like Arusha or Dodoma, he said.

According to Mr Maro,what complicated expectations of the service price going down was that the big companies, such as TTCL, ZAIN, VODACOM, TIGO and ZANTEL, have not come up with ways to bring prices down or say what would happen to those with business contracts for the older technology.

He said both the availability of cables and competition would bring the expected results of lowering costs.

He added that the investors have also maintained that the prices will come down. But they have not talked about how open their business models would be to people who have not invested but would like to lease the infrastructure, he said.

SEACOM, a privately funded venture, owns and operates a submarine fibre-optic cable that will connect communication carriers in South and East Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks via India and Europe.
SEACOM president Brian Herlihy said in a recent interview that the current capacity demand on the east coast of Africa is very small.

Construction of the 13,700 km Sea Cable System, which was expected to be completed last month, would comprise two fibre pairs. These connect South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya to India and Egypt.

There is an option for connectivity into the United Arab Emirates and Djibouti.

 

[BrainPower]

Nilisahau kubandika hili bango,

Majirani zetu tayari wanasubiria Fibre optic cable ya pili kutia nanga.
Sisi bado tunafikiria jinsi ya kwanza tutaisambaza

And to make it even worse

However, analysts are sounding the alarm that the country may wind up with too much broadband connectivity as players in the industry have bought more capacity than they are willing to handle

Habari ndiyo Hiyo !!!!! Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Second fibre optic link lands next week

 

[Mwanjelwa]

Hii ni habari kubwa sana kwa nchi zetu za Africa Mashariki. Maana sisi wengine vitu kama 'youtube' au kuangalia movies kwenye internet tulikuwa mpaka tuende Abroad. Scripts za BBC au CNN sikuwahi ona kule kwetu TZ.
Matumaini ni kuwa huu mfumo ukizinduliwa kesho bila shaka tutaweza jirusha kama wengine Duniani. Kwanini tusiweze?

 

[Evy]

lets wait and see if the prices will be affordable..bcoz i know how wabongo r good in scheming and inflating costs..

 

[Lambardi]

Suala la ei litachukua muda kidogo......fiber to home project pia itachukua muda mrefu zaidi......ingawa ttcl wana haki zote kusambaza fiber to home.....je itawalipa??hao ttcl??

 

[emanuel.feruzi]

Juu ya maswala yenu yote, naomba kuwe na Linux support. Nimekwenda kwenye makampuni yote ya simu kupata internet service, kila ninapowauliza kama wanasupport Linux, wote husema hapana. Lakini kiubishi ubishi, I have managed to get all them to work on my Linux box, except Zain, but I know it has been done by friends.

Hawa jamaa wa Fibre, I really hope that they look at supporting all platforms and also look into working with wired devices and gadgets.

And if possible can we be of use and try and help.

 

[LazyDog]

Suala la ei litachukua muda kidogo......fiber to home project pia itachukua muda mrefu zaidi......ingawa ttcl wana haki zote kusambaza fiber to home.....je itawalipa??hao ttcl??

Sio lazima fiber isambazwe hadi majumbani. Connections nyingi kwa mtu mmoja mmoja zitakuwa wireless. Itakuwa na maana kufikisha fiber sehemu zenye watumiaji wengi, mfano chuo, hospitali, na mifano ya namna hiyo.

 

[JosM]

JK akiwa na Waziri wa Sayansi na Teknolojia profesa Peter Msolla (mbele kulia) na katika picha ya pamoja na wakuu wa Seacom Tanzania baada ya kuzindua rasmi Mkongo wa mawasiliano (marine fibre optic cable) kwenye stesheni ya Seacom maeneo ya Siversands jijini Dar muda huu

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

East Africa gets high-speed web
​

​

The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live.

The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia.

The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce. The cable - which is 17,000km long - took two years to lay and cost more than $650m.

Seacom said in a statement the launch of the cable marked the "dawn of a new era for communications" between Africa and the rest of the world.
The services were unveiled in ceremonies in the Kenyan port of Mombasa and the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam.

School benefits

The cable was due to be launched in June but was delayed by pirate activity off the coast of Somalia.

The BBC's Ben Mwangunda in Dar es Salaam says five institutions are already benefiting from the faster speeds - national electricity company Tanesco, communications company, TTCL, Tanzania Railways and the Universities of Dar es Salaam and Dodoma.

The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says the internet revolution trumpeted by Seacom largely depends on how well the service is rolled out across the region. To the disappointment of many consumers, our correspondent says some ISPs (internet service providers) are not planning to lower the cost of the internet, but instead will offer increased bandwidth.

But businesses, which have been paying around $3,000 a month for 1MB through a satellite link, will now pay considerably less - about $600 a month.

The Kenyan government has been laying a network of cables to all of the country's major towns and says the fibre-optic links will also enable schools nationwide to link into high quality educational resources.

But our correspondent says it is not clear whether the internet revolution will reach the villages, many of which still struggle to access reliable electricity.

BBC NEWS | Africa | East Africa gets high-speed web