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March 10 2009 at 11:58 Soliton secures Sh4bn cable deal |
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Soliton Telmec, a fibre optic design company has secured a Sh4 billion contract with Kenya Data Networks (KDN) to lay backup cables.
KDN has also reduced its fibre optic network connection fee from Sh480,000 to Sh40,000.
This comes barely a week after the first submarine cable landed in Mombasa last Saturday.
KDN undertook the first fibre optic project in 2005 at a cost of Sh27 billion that covered most of Nairobi's office premises, universities, colleges and residential areas.
The backup cable laying slated for completion by year-end will cover Mombasa, Garissa, Thika, Nakuru, Kericho, Kisumu, Malaba and Busia. |
It is the second time that KDN has contracted Soliton Telmec, which successfully completed the first 3,000 kilometre cable laying.
Soliton’s chief executive, Eng. Abdirahman Omar Sheikh observed: “This is yet another vote of confidence in our capacity to deliver and support large scale optical fiber projects, having built major networks in the country for the past five years’’
KDN managing director, Kai Wulff said the firm intends to provide low cost bandwidth that will guarantee affordable and reliable high speed broadband service in the region and Africa as a whole. |
“We want to improve education and healthcare but also realise that the price of bandwidth is a significant barrier to such improvements not only in the country but the region as a whole’’, observed Mr. Wulff.
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Kenya is among countries with one of the highest internet and phone costs regimes in the world.
Phone calls to South Africa or Rwanda from Kenya have to be routed through Europe via satellite making it expensive for consumers.
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