more background info for the friday meeting....... TYCO WINS CONTRACT TO BUILD KENYAN GOVT’S FIBRE CABLE Communication in Kenya is to set for a major revolution, following the start of an undersea fibre optic link to the rest of the world through Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. American company Tyco last week won a contract to undertake a marine survey that should be ready in two months, at a cost of Sh187 million. The Government will invite bids any time from now for a financial arranger who will design a plan to raise money for the project, tentatively expected to be complete by early next year. The contract will be awarded competitively by April this year. The Government, through Telkom Kenya, is working with Dubai-based Etisalat, a telecoms company, to build the cable. The private sector will be invited to either buy shares, or to prove its capacity to raise funds through plans worked out by the financial arranger. Information and Communication minister Mutahi Kagwe says fast-tracking the East African Marine System (Teams) will ensure that Kenya does not lag behind in information and communication technology (ICT). "The East African coast is the only one without a fibre optic cable. We are racing against time," he said. The cost of data transmission would come down, leading to lower cost of communication. The price of a megabyte is expected to plunge from a high of Sh490,000 (US$7,000) to Sh14,000 (US$200). All East Africa countries are part of the project, while Ethiopia wants to join them. The project was conceived by the Kenya Government after it became evident that a similar one from South Africa to Port Sudan, popularly called East Africa Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSY) would not take off. Kenya declined to sign the EASSY project protocol, citing inclusion of the New Partnership for Africa Development (Nepad) into the programme without specifying its mandate. Also, Kenya opposed Nepad's attempts to own the project, saying the group should not be involved as that would negate its noble concepts. The country also took issue with non-involvement of the private sector as it would be difficult to implement the protocol without it, once it was signed. But Kenya will not pull out of EASSY. It will remain a key participant and use it as back-up should there be any breakdown of Teams project. "We decided to work on a parallel project after it became difficult to make decisions on the EASSY one. The latter had too many players, some of whom were coming in every other day. But we will be involved in the project...The more the cables, the better. That will induce competition, which will bring down the prices". (SOURCE: The Nation) _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat@kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com