Thanks Robert for this useful information. You posit that "DSL still remains the ideal last mile solution even where triple play is to be delivered". With the recent bad experiences of listers, which is the best DSL provider in Kenya? I'm still searching! Edith ________________ Edith Ofwona Adera Senior Program Specialist ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera eadera@idrc.or.ke<mailto:eadera@idrc.or.ke> | www.idrc.ca<http://www.idrc.ca/> | www.crdi.ca<http://www.crdi.ca/> ________________________________ From: robert yawe [robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: 22 March 2011 08:21 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Refreshing - Fibre to Homes Hi Edith, The Jamii FTTH project is yet to be rolled out but on the same vein we need to appreciate that FTTH is no longer the model of choice for delivery of connectivity to the home due to the high cost of the termination equipment and the process of repairing damaged fibre. It costs about 25,000/- to terminate a pair of fibre and since your equipment in the home will most likely not have a fibre port you will require to convert the light pulses to electrical signals that can be delivered to your computers or set top boxes ethernet card. The cheap fibre to Ethernet transceivers cost on average 15,000/-. Fibres high bandwidth capabilities and long runs are ideal for back-haul and trunk applications, the last mile is still best served over copper due to the ease of installation and maintenance. The bandwidth capabilities of fibre optic cable will be underutilised in the home, DSL still remains the ideal last mile solution even where triple play is to be delivered. As we develop more gated communities the safety of copper will be increased therefore reducing the efforts of the providers to getting the fibre to the gate. Also note that with fibre trying to implement voice services such as intercom within a development will proof very expensive is you will need to used SIP phones. With DSL the same cable delivering data will be able to also delivery voice cost effectively. AccessKenya and the elk have been having an uphill task selling WiMax equipment for 45,000/- and finally opted to supply the equipment for free. In Runda where fibre has been widely buried the level of uptake is still very low mainly due to the installation cost and resistance from home owners to have their gardens dug up to lay the cable. As has been realised in the data centre copper still offers a better solution to high-speed connectivity which explains why many switch manufacturers have opted to slow development of higher speeds on their fibre switches and instead are concentrating on increasing performance over copper. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.or.ke> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Mon, 21 March, 2011 15:03:30 Subject: [kictanet] Refreshing - Fibre to Homes Listers, It was refershing to watch "Who Owns Kenya" on Citizen TV on Sunday and learn that Jamii Telecom is rolling out fibre to the home as a major project. Does anyone know if these services are already being provided by Jamii or is this just a plan? Edith ________________ Edith Ofwona Adera Senior Program Specialist ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera eadera@idrc.or.ke<mailto:eadera@idrc.or.ke> | www.idrc.ca<http://www.idrc.ca/> | www.crdi.ca<http://www.crdi.ca/>