The network of Somali cellular service provider Hormuud Telecommunication Company has been damaged by shelling in the capital Mogadishu. Local news agency APA-Mogadishu says that Somali-Ethiopian forces destroyed the Bakara market in the capital which is the site of Hormuud Telecom’s headquarters building. ‘A heavy shell landed on our company, it destroyed many devices including the transmission device which caused all cell phone service to be idle in Mogadishu today,’ said Abdi Rashid Ali of Hormuud Telecom.
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The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) consortium has signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent to undertake the implementation and construction of an undersea fibre-optic cable network. Sources close to the deal said the French infrastructure provider was awaiting financial approval from funding agencies to commence the project. ‘Financial close of the EASSy project is expected to be concluded in the coming weeks when the physical implementation and construction of the cable system will commence,’ said Sammy Kirui, chairman of the EASSy project management committee. Alcatel-Lucent won a tender to build the EASSy system on a full turnkey basis in July 2006, when the total cost of the project was estimated at USD300 million. The launch of commercial services over the planned network is scheduled for the third quarter of 2008.
The EASSy project is aimed at easing the costs of linking eastern Africa to worldwide networks, and is being developed under a USD235 million construction and maintenance agreement signed by 25 parties. The consortium includes 22 telecom operators representing 20 countries, 90% of which are African companies. The EASSy submarine network will span 9,900km, linking eight countries from Sudan to South Africa via Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Landings will be located in Port Sudan, Djibouti (Djibouti), Mogadishu (Somalia) Mombasa (Kenya), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mtunzini (South Africa). The initial capacity will be 20Gbps with ultimate capacity of 320Gbps per fibre pair.
A special purpose holding vehicle (SPV), West Indian Ocean Cable Company Limited, has been set up to invest 40% of the equity into the EASSy project, with 60% of the investment directly committed by telecoms operators. The development finance institutions supporting the project include the International Finance Corporation, Development Bank of South Africa, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, KfW Bankengruppe and Agence Française de Développement.
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Telegeography writes…The Kenyan government is pushing ahead with three separate undersea cable deals in an effort to boost the country’s international broadband connectivity. The Ministry of Information and Communication is placing a priority on the East African Marine System (TEAMS), which offers a link to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The Highway Africa news agency reports that under the TEAMS agreement the Kenyan government will have a 40% holding in the project, Etisalat of UAE will hold 20% and the remaining 40% will go to investors in the East African region. The government is also continuing negotiations over its part in the East Africa Submarine System (EASSy), a 9,000km cable which will connect Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania (including Zanzibar). Meanwhile, Kenya Data Network (KDN) has signed an agreement to create a link to the FLAG system; KDN will link from Mombasa and terminate in an undersea junction in international waters off the Yemen, Highway Africa reports. KDN says the link will be fully operational in the first quarter of 2008.
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Hormuud Telecom network out of action (Somalia)
