Jul 23, 2009, 15:52 GMT
Dar es Salaam - The first of three undersea fibre-optic cables expected to dramatically jack up internet speeds and slash costs in East Africa went live on Thursday, prompting hopes of economic benefits.
The arrival of high-speed internet is expected to prompt a surge in internet use and boost economic growth in East Africa, which has been reliant on expensive and unreliable satellite technology.
SEACOM, which is three-quarters African owned, said that its 17,000-kilometre cable had been completed and commissioned, providing East Africa with access to 1.28 Terabytes - 1.28 trillion bytes - per second.
'Today is a historic day for Africa and marks the dawn of a new era for communications between the continent and the rest of the world,' Brian Herlihy, CEO of SEACOM, said in a statement.
SEACOM, partnering with network equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems, will unveil the technology later on Thursday with simultaneous demonstrations in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa.
Final links to Rwanda and Ethiopia are still to be established.
Two other cables are following hot on SEACOM's heels. The TEAMS cable, backed by the Kenyan government, is currently in the testing and commissioning phase while the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is expected to come online early next year.
Analysts expect internet costs to be slashed as the cables come online and predict that faster speeds will boost business and economic growth in East African nations.
A recent World Bank study pinpointed high-speed internet as a key growth driver in developing countries.
The study found that a 10 per-cent increase in high-speed internet connections brought a corresponding 1.3 per-cent increase in economic growth.
Kenya in particular is positioning itself to grab a slice of the outsourcing market, with one major call centre already targeting UK clients.
'This industry would be another good foundation for the economy,' said Robert Shaw, a Nairobi-based economic analyst. 'I would think as it gathers momentum ... we will see an explosion in business.'
The cables are also expected to prompt a jump in the number of Africans in urban and rural settings who can afford to access the internet.
According to the Internet World Stats website, internet penetration is only 5.6 per cent in Africa, compared to 26.6 per cent in the rest of the world.
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