Africa’s Zamtel to lay international cable

After completing a feasibility study, Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) this week said it will be ready by the end of next year to start laying new fiber-optic lines to connect to existing transcontinental cables.

Zamtel’s fiber-optic network will be connected to the cable ship Nexus (CS Nexus) intercontinental cable that runs under the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Sudan. The CS Nexus undersea cable connects Africa to Europe and Asia, which are Zambia’s most active communication destinations.

Zamtel’s new fiber-optic network is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2007.

“The network is a major development because it would provide Zamtel with broadband capacity for various media of communications and in particular provide the backbone for the much-needed information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in Zambia,” said company Managing Director Simon Tembo.

The project is forecast to gobble up about US$20 million, according to Tembo.

Zamtel is a government-run communications utility that runs a sister mobile communications company, Cellz. The new cable will mainly service the mobile market, though Tembo said the cables would also provide capacity for various communications media.

The name of the company that will construct the network will be announced next month, after tender bids are evaluated.

Tembo said the network is an alternative to obtaining an international gateway license from the government. The Zambian government has been dragging its feet to grant international gateway license to the three mobile service providers in the country, claiming more time is needed to study the implications of awarding the license. Mobile service providers however, argue that international gateway would bring down the high cost of telecommunications in the country.

Celtel International and Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) of South Africa are the other two mobile service providers operating in Zambia.