Fiber network to connect Indian Ocean countries

Aiming to cut telecommunication costs, Indian Ocean nations are moving ahead on a fiber-optic cable project to connect countries in the region to each other and to intercontinental networks.

The Indian Ocean Commission gave the go-ahead to the project last week during the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Indian Ocean Commission is an international development organization. The project’s goal is to foster telecom and economic development among the Indian Ocean countries and help them compete with other nations in the region.

The decision to begin the project follows a feasibility study, conducted last year, that looked at Internet demand in the countries served by the Indian Ocean Commission: Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Comoros, and Seychelles.

The countries mainly rely on satellites for international communications. The fiber-optic project will connect the five countries to each other, then link them to the main cables that hook Africa to other regions of the world. The idea behind the project is that ultimately, fiber-optic communications will be less expensive than satellite technology.

The Addis Ababa ICT forum was organized by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive and regulatory body, the United Nations Commission for Africa (UNECA) and African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries.

UNECA’s director of science and technology, Aida Opoku-Mensah, said ICT is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Africa and is ripe for investment.

“Effective utilization of tangible assets such as knowledge, innovative potential, and skills are key resources for competitive advantage in the region,” said Mensah, via e-mail.

The Indian Ocean Commission, however, has not released details about the timetable and financing for the fiber-optic project. Once complete, the fiber-optic cable linking the Indian Ocean nations will then be linked African intercontinental cables including SAT3/SAFE (South Atlantic 3 and South Africa Far East cable) and the East Africa Submarine cable system (EASSY). SAT3/SAFE runs from West Africa to South Africa to Portugal, while the EASSY network will run from South Africa to Sudan to Europe.

The EASSY network is set to be finished by 2010. If the Indian Ocean fiber network is to connect to EASSY by 2010, work would have to begin this year.