The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has started laying fiber-optic cables that will connect Mozambique with the Zambian border town of Mchinji to ease communication problems.

"The cable networks will connect Tete in Mozambique and Mchinji and will provide services ranging from voice, data, fax and radio communication system," Harris Chinguwo, ESCOM chief engineer for fiber communication, announced at the 6th International Conference on Open Access in Malawi on Wednesday.

The company is laying the cable on its power lines throughout Malawi to build the networks that will later form the country's national fiber-optic backbone.

The developers of the project are hoping that the high cost of communication the country is currently experiencing will be lowered once the construction of the cable networks is completed.

The cables will also provide ESCOM with a communication system linking the power generation center with control centers and, eventually, with the regional office.

So far, the company has constructed 280 kilometers of the cable network, Chinguwo said. The laying of the cable is moving quickly due to the power lines that the company has already constructed around the country, he explained.

At the end of the project, Chinguwo said, ESCOM will have enough bandwidth to lease to ISPs (Internet service providers), mobile service providers, television companies, and government and education institutions.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.