UUNET to spend $10 million on fiber products

UUNET Kenya has embarked on a US$10 million one-year project aimed at developing innovative products and services to take advantage of the country's fiber-optic infrastructure, which is expected to be operational by June 2009.

The products will enable customers to use video conferencing, telephony and international MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) through the Internet once the cable lands in Mombasa, said UUNET managing director Tom Omariba.

UUNET plans to overhaul its Internet services as it prepares to reap cheaper access through undersea cables. Both the TEAMS (The East African Marine System) cable and the SEACOM cable are expected to land in June 2009, while EASSy (Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System) is expected to switch on in September 2009.

The upgraded network will allow the UUNET staff to support the system from remote locations, invest more in research and development, and invest in at least two of the cables for redundancy once they land in the country, Omariba said.

"Rather than spend money investing between Fujairah and Mombasa, we have opted to invest the money in developing and preparing various products and solutions to run on the coming fiber optic cable," he said in response to why the company is not a TEAMs cable investor.

The expanding telecommunication industry is pushing the available satellite capacity beyond the limit, making the services more expensive, Omariba noted. Regarding pricing, he said that any reduction will depend on a provider being able to offer onward connectivity, reliability of service and security of data along the cable.

Owned by Verizon and Telkom South Africa, UUNET provides broadband to corporate clients through WiMax infrastructure. The company has already invested $1 million in WiMax products and seeks to expand its presence in the region, specifically in Rwanda, where Omariba said it will be easy to interconnect with UUNET's existing system.