A planned fifth undersea fibre-optic cable for Kenya will double the East African nation’s Internet capacity to more than 15Tbit/s from its current capacity of 8,6Tbit/s. However, it appears unlikely the new capacity will prompt the rapid price reductions many hope for because of the cost of infrastructure to distribute the capacity inland and because there is insufficient demand. For now, Kenya is only using about 6% of its available bandwidth.

The new cable will, however, provide additional links for redundancy. Its four existing undersea cables have suffered from frequent cuts that have at times left parts of the country disconnected. The Kenyan government is in talks with the investor – who is unnamed – about an alternative landing site in the country’s second largest city, Mombasa. Source: Africa Review

Airtel to upgrade African network
Bharti Airtel has signed an agreement with Ericsson to overhaul the India-headquartered mobile operator’s networks in the 16 African countries in which it operates. Airtel intends to upgrade and expand all network elements, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging and consumer services platforms and systems. The move is intended to improve Airtel’s capacity, the robustness of its networks, and prepare them to offer next generation high-speed data services. Source: AllAfrica

Zim’s PowerTel launches without interconnect
Despite being unable to interconnect with other Zimbabwean voice networks, and lacking a proper billing system, newcomer PowerTel has launched a code division multiple access voice network. It offers a single, unlimited package for US$9/month, but as users can only call other PowerTel numbers, it is expected to have limited appeal and uptake. Competitor Africom already offers unlimited on-net calls for only $1/ month more, along with interconnection to other networks, but has also struggled to win over users from the country’s three GSM networks. Source: Techzim

Competition reducing Ugandan Internet prices
Increasing competition, particularly in the mobile broadband market, is bringing down the cost of connectivity in Uganda. According to statistics from the Uganda Communications Commission, the nation has about 5m Internet users. However, customers are extremely price sensitive and operators’ and Internet service providers’ market share continues to fluctuate, depending on what products they bring to market. Source: The Monitor

Voice demand falls in Tanzania
The average use of voice calls per individual subscriber in Tanzania has fallen by 17,8% in the fourth quarter ended June 2012, with many customers using SMS instead. This is according to Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority statistics. The organisation says Tanzanian consumers are spending less on voice, while SMS is growing considerably. Although SMS has made up for some of the shortfall in voice revenue as more customers move to data services, operators are going to have to find new ways to generate revenue as voice and SMS use continue to decline. Source: Daily News