Altech subsidiary Kenya Data Networks (KDN) on Thursday said that it had laid about 1 500-km of terrestrial fibre-optic backbone from Mombasa, in Kenya, to Kampala, in Uganda.

The company added that further plans included laying another 400 km of underground cable from Kampala to Kigali, in Rwanda.

“The project will deliver better and more affordable telecommunications advances, in line with those currently enjoyed by most developed countries,” said KDN MD Kai Wulff.

“From 2005, when we laid our first fibre-optic cable in Nairobi, our ambitions have grown exponentially. Soon, we will have laid cable throughout East Africa, and from there, we have the entire African continent in our sights,” he added.

East Africa has, to date, made use of the VSAT satellite for international communication. “This means that information sent from Kenya to Uganda effectively had to travel 72 000 km from Kenya to the satellite and then to Uganda. KDN’s new terrestrial fibre network will shorten the route by 90%, inherently resulting in cost savings to the consumer,” explained Wulff.

JSE-listed Altech CEO Craig Venter said the group was proud to be associated with the terrestrial fibre-optics project. He noted that broadband demand in East Africa was expected to increase ten fold over the next three-years.  “The project will unlock land-locked countries, like Uganda and Rwanda, by connecting them to the undersea cables through KDN’s terrestrial fibre.”

Altech said that KDN owned the largest fibre optic network in East Africa and dominated the field of data carriers and infrastructure networks suppliers.

Altech was gaining experience in running the next generation network in Kenya through its acquisition of KDN. The company’s fibre network would, by September, link Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company noted that it also had WiMax experience through WiMax roll-out in Kenya, through KDN, and Uganda, through Infocom.

Altech said it also has international bandwidth capacity through its equity stake in The East Africa Marine System (Teams) undersea cable, which would link Kenya and the Middle East.

Last week, the firm announced that it had acquired an 8,5% stake in Teams for $11-million, through KDN.

“All this knowledge and experience gained through the businesses in East Africa, is available for utilisation in South Africa and applicable to the newly acquired I-ECNS license,” the company emphasised.

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