Africa’s largest communications service provider Telkom, will share its experience in building and operating a telecommunications network at the International Telecommunications Africa 2004 event which takes place in Egypt from Monday to Saturday, Telkom said in a statement on Monday.
“We have recently signed a memorandum of understanding for the East Coast cable project partnering with many operators in East Africa,” said Telkom managing executive for international and special markets Wally Beelders.
Afrolinque — a Telkom-initiated project commissioned in 2002 — provides telecommunication services to west and southern Africa and has resulted in a consortium of 36 African operators. North Africa is served by a number of other submarine cable systems.
“The next logical step is to provide the east coast of Africa with submarine optic fibre connectivity. A group of telecommunication operators from seven African countries have banded together to bridge the last remaining coast of Africa to the digital world. Companies from South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Djibouti are driving the project,” Beelders said.
“The ITU African event provides Telkom with the opportunity to have in-depth discussions with peers. An important issue is for networks to be able to ‘talk’ to each other and connect to the world,” he added.
In the past, many African operators have routed their telecommunication traffic through Europe resulting in a large money outflow from the continent that could be harnessed to build a larger African network.
“While in Africa the growth is in the mobile market, it is network interconnection that will see major developments. Mobile services would be very limited if no interconnect services both at a national and international level is available. I foresee major growth in this area. It will undoubtedly be a major discussion point at the Cairo forum,” Beelders said. – I-Net Bridge