AccessKenya has taken a 1.25% stake in The East African Marine System (Teams), which will lay a fibre-optic cable from the Middle East to East Africa.
Expected to be completed in late 2009, AccessKenya says the project will increase its bandwidth capacity by 10 times. The company did not disclose the amount of money involved in the deal.
AccessKenya MD Jonathan Somen says the company's ongoing acquisitions required more bandwidth to be effective.
"The investment in Teams fits our corporate policy of owning infrastructure for our services as far as possible," he said. Through Teams, AccessKenya's bandwidth will grow from 250Mbps to 2 500Mbps.
He says the company is also looking for space in two other fibre optic cables expected to be operational in Kenya in the next 18 to 24 months. "We are already in discussions with other parties to secure additional capacity on one of the other cables."
According to him, this would help the company to provide alternative routes for Internet traffic, enhancing connectivity for clients. He says Kenya's ICT sector is expected to grow tremendously once the fibre-optic cables are up and running.
"The cables will stop reliance on the more expensive satellite technologies, bringing down costs and attracting new players, especially in the business process outsourcing and call centres segment," he explains.
AccessKenya Group comprises corporate ISP AccessKenya, data carrier network operators and IT services provider Openview Business Systems.
Earlier this month, Kenya's only listed ICT company launched a service that aims to have 2 000 small and medium enterprises outsource internal IT services to Openview Systems.
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