Contractors lay the TEAMS fiber optic cable from the ship Niwa at Mombasa

By Reuben Olita
in Mombasa

THE East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) cable has been launched at Mombasa by Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki.

Speaking at the function also attended by Uganda’s information and communication technology (ICT) minister, Aggrey Awori, Kibaki said, the landing of the fibre-optic undersea cable at Mombasa was one of the landmark projects in Kenya’s and regional development efforts.

“Some have compared it to the completion of the Kenya-Uganda railway more than a century ago,” he said noting that today’s economies were largely driven by the Internet and other ICT connections.

He pointed out that the project was a public-private partnership between his government and the private sector, geared towards connecting Kenya and the region with the rest of the world and harnessing the power of ICTs.

Kibaki expressed confidence that solutions to the economic crisis would be found using ICT, adding that the future downturns would be easier to foresee, contain and overcome.

He directed the information and communication ministry to come up with programmes for training of the youth in ICTs to catch up with the first world in digital telecommunication technologies.
Kibaki also directed all ministries to adopt ICTs in their plans in order to realise the benefits of technology.

After the installation of the marine fibre optic cable, Kibaki disclosed the next step would be the construction of land-based infrastructure, to make ICT the main pillar of the Kenya Vision 2030, the country’s national economic blueprint.

He emphasised that the East African Marine Systems project also marked a crucial turning point in national and regional efforts to bridge the digital divide with the developed world.

He said the project would empower East Africans to become digital citizens, adding that it re-defines modernity and efficiency and was a big step in the delivery of quality service in the ICT sector.

“I am confident the people in our region, especially the youth, will be the first to rush to take advantage of the high connectivity Internet that will be offered by the project,” Kibaki said.

He said the TEAMS project would boost learning, work and other fields. “Readily accessible bandwidth will not only lower telecommunications costs, but also provide new opportunities in all sectors and translate the country’s concept of a ‘working nation’ into a much stronger economy.”

The cable that has taken 18 months to reach the Kenyan coast by sea from the Middle East is expected to improve ICTs and inter-connectivity in Africa.

“Until now, the eastern Africa coast was the longest coastline in the world without a fibre-optic cable connection to the rest of the world,” the president explained.