Affordable telecoms critical, says Kibaki

“The landing of this fibre-optic undersea cable project in Mombasa is one of the landmark projects in Kenya's national development story. Indeed some have compared this to the completion of the Kenya-Uganda railway more than a century ago.

”This comparison is not far-fetched, because while the economies of the last century were driven by railway connections, the economies of today are largely driven by internet and other ICT connections,” said Kibaki.

He referred to the East African Marine Systems project is an innovative public-private partnership between the government of Kenya and corporate stakeholders. “The project has connected our country with the rest of the world and harnessed the power of Information Communication Technologies. This is a great enabler for growth, and development of our country,” he said.

He said the arrival of the cable signals “the beginning of a new beginning” in the telecommunications sector, particularly data services, in Kenya country and the region. He pointed out that until TEAMS, the Eastern Africa coast was the longest coastline in the world without a fibre-optic cable connection to the rest of the world.

“This project comes with many attractive benefits. The TEAMS project marks a crucial turning point in our efforts to bridge the Digital Divide. It will empower Kenyans and other East Africans to become fully digital citizens of the 21st Century. It redefines modernity and efficiency and is a big step in the delivery of quality service in the ICT sector,” he said.

Benefits

Kibaki said the project will boost the worlds of learning, work and play as ICT serves all generations.

“Those of the older generation will recall that the world rocked by the first global economic meltdown, the Great Depression of 1929 that lasted deep into the 1930's was soon followed by the World War that started in 1939.

”Today we are witnessing the global recession that began with the American sub-prime mortgage and banking crisis of last year. But there is a crucial difference this time round: the prevailing worldwide recessionary conditions are the first such downturn to happen in the age of ICT,” he said.

Kibaki says he believes that a world equipped with ICT and interconnected by fibre-optic cables has much better disaster preparedness and turnaround capabilities than the world of the 1930's. “Thanks to ICT the world now is truly a global village with better communication and now better informed,” he said.

The Kenyan president also said that in addition to the marine installation, the next step is the full completion of the construction of land-based infrastructure. This will make ICT the main pillar of our national economic blueprint for the new millennium, VISION TWENTY THIRTY.

Tremendous opportunities

“The opportunities that are about to be opened up by the TEAMS project are tremendous. Readily accessible bandwidth will not only lower telecommunications costs but also provide new opportunities practically in all sectors. The concept of a working nation will translate into a much stronger economy befitting this millennium,” he said, adding that in order to “catch the first generation of truly digital Kenyans” the country will set up training programs.

“Similarly, I direct all the Ministries to speedily adopt ICT in their strategic plans in order to realise the full benefits of technology, for the good of our country.

“Affordable telecommunications technologies and infrastructure are critical to our nation's development. The phenomenon of business process outsourcing which is a mainstay of the ICT sector, is something that the Government wishes to see take hold in Kenya as soon as possible.

”Under business process outsourcing, engineering and scientific research, computer programming, accounting and telemarketing, the new global enterprise, can be based anywhere in the world. This is what a knowledge-based society is about. And it is possible because ICT enables you to deliver services and products anywhere in the world.

”ICT therefore is a necessity that we must embrace as it helps Kenya to move with the changing times in a rapidly evolving world. With the launch of this project Kenya is now equipped with one of the most advanced and cost-effective, nation-building tools,” he concluded.