East African, Yemeni telecoms push for fibre-optic inter-connectivity link

Hiiraan Online
Wednesday February 17, 2016

DJIBOUTI (HOL) – Telecommunication companies from East African countries and Yemen are planning to coordinate the implementation and laying a submarine fibre optic network to reduce the skyrocketing and slow internet costs, officials said Wednesday.

Slow and costly internet connection is major problems in East Africa and Yemen, a factor that analysts say continues to have a negative impact on the economic growth of the countries.

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Executives from major telecommunication companies from Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Yemen are attending a three-day conference in Djibouti which aims to brainstorm best ways the companies can join forces to fully install the service linking all the four countries.

The executives are also discussing about sharing the service implementation’s running cost and its financial returns.

The project will see the cable extending from the Indian Ocean to build an interconnection between the countries.

The conference’s participants say that the project would enable people in East Africa and Yemen to have an enhanced internet connectivity that would also help schools, hospitals and governments to improve their services.

Despite the internet challenges in Africa, Kenya remains the largest market in the region. With Internet penetration of 39 percent, the fourth-highest in Africa, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

In addition, Somalia which is recovering from decades of war has taken the first tentative steps towards establishing a reliable Internet connection by starting to install fiber optic cables, primarily in the seaside capital Mogadishu since 2012.

Meanwhile, Djibouti which remains one of the fastest growing telecom markets in Africa still faces internet connection challenges; however, a new submarine cable which is being installed in the tiny horn of Africa nation is expected to improve the country’s internet access.

However, Yemen, the poorest country in Middle East still faces internet challenges; with only 14.9% of the country’s population have internet access, according to Internet World Stats (IWS), an organization that monitors the internet use and population statics in a report issued in 2012.

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