KDN starts construction of fiber termination point

Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has reaffirmed its position as a dominant player in East Africa's technology sector with a 7 billion Kenyan shilling (US$110 million) fiber termination point in Mombasa.

The company, which has heavily invested in TEAMs (The East African Marine System) submarine cable, is living up to its promise of being a telecommunications solutions provider through the provision of low cost bandwidth, said KDN Managing Director Kai Wulff.

"The infrastructure will guarantee affordable and reliable high speed broadband service in the region and rest of Africa," Wulff said. "We are certain that with the landing of the undersea cable, through our network, we shall provide East Africa the broadband connection necessary for delivering the same affordable telecommunications advances now enjoyed by most countries in the developed world.''

With the infrastructure in place, KDN hopes cheap broadband will improve education and health care through telecommunication technologies.

"East Africa has one of the highest Internet and telephone costs in the world. With one of the lowest Internet usage rates, we have a situation where, if you were to call South Africa or Rwanda from Kenya, the call has to be routed through Europe via satellite, which is very expensive," noted Wulff.

While emphasizing the social and economic advances that the Internet and other new technologies bring to countries all over the world, Wulff argued that the costs need to be lowered to avoid isolating the region.

With the termination point, KDN hopes to carry traffic for TEAMs, EASSy (Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System) and SEACOM once they land in Mombasa.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.