East Africa upbeat as first submarine cable goes live

These are being handled at group level in South Africa, in the case of MTN, said John Paul Bagiire, the company’s general manager, strategic planning.

Most operators in Uganda — like MTN, Uganda Telecom and Orange (through its sister company in Kenya, Telkom, which owns 51 per cent of Orange Kenya) are partners in the Eastern Africa Submarine System that will land at the coast next year.

Seacom’s arrival means weaning the country off satellite, but that will not be enough. Experts say other constraints will slow down the industry.

For instance, a broadband strategy should have been worked out to have the country looped with the necessary backhaul infrastructure to reach the farthest nook. Andre Wills, managing director of Africa Analysis, one of the continent’s top telecom policy, audit and research firms, says this is lacking in most countries in the region, with the exception of Rwanda.

Industry players also bemoan low uptake of broadband services due to lack of computers.

“To exploit the benefits of cheap and abundant bandwidth offered by submarine cables, Uganda should address these bottlenecks.

“Low computer penetration, low computer literacy and inadequate access to electricity in the country by end-users are examples of these constraints,” said Mr Bagiire.

Uganda has so far laid some backhaul infrastructure from Malaba on the Kenya border to Katuna on the Rwanda border — developed by MTN and Uganda Telecom over the past five years.

This infrastructure is part of the East African Backhaul System (EABS) link that will run across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, feeding from cable systems that will land at both Mombasa and Dar esSalaam.

Currently, the Burundi segment of EABS is under construction, while the Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda segments are in place. Only the Tanzanian link is missing.

Despite these largely private sector initiatives, there is inadequate fibre network to deliver backbone broadband services.

A significant part of Uganda is yet to be covered by the government’s $106 million national backbone fibre whose first phase — Kampala, Jinja, Entebbe and Bombo — is almost ready.