NETWORK STRATEGIES

project could rise to US$300 million. Often such investments go hand-in-

hand with private commitments. Kenya Data Networks, for example, says it has laid 4,000 kilometres of fibre across Kenya and out to the capital cities of Kampala in Uganda and Kigali in Rwanda. Telkom Kenya in March announced

the launch of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services in Nairobi under the Orange brand. And in December 2010 the Wananchi Group launched triple-play services over fibre in Nairobi, with the company reportedly also planning serv- ices in Tanzania and Uganda. Also in March, i3 Africa announced

plans to build a wholesale FTTH network in South Africa connecting up to 2.5 million homes within the next five years. The open access network promises to provide customers with minimum connection speeds of 100 Mbps. The company—backed and part-owned by

the government National Empowerment Fund and UK fibre infrastructure company i3 Group—plans to spend 5–6 billion rand (about E500–E600 million) on the network . Other countries are attracting private

funding. “[Botswana] is becoming a hub to connect via landlocked countries, because the economy is more developed [and operators] prefer to extend inland into Botswana,” says Arsal at Pyramid . In North Africa , Algeria Telecom aims

to have 250,000 FTTH connections by the end of this year, according to reports. And in the third quarter of 2010 Tunisia Telecom undertook FTTH pilot projects in residential areas of Tunis. Yet despite growth in terrestrial fibre

infrastructure since 2009, sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind other regions in terms of network density, and its reliance on expensive satellite connections is far from over. “Satellite is booming,” says

Gallegos at the World Bank. “We are still seeing prices of $2,000-$3,000 [per month] for satellite links.” Vodacom subsidiary Gateway, for

example, has 60 transponders providing satellite capacity over Africa . “The chal- lenge is getting…bandwidth and [lower] pricing to villages. In very desolate rural areas satellite will be the only way,” says Gallegos. “There will be some trunks to rural areas, but beyond that it is going to have to be a wireless backbone.” Indeed, service providers continue to

launch new satellites. Last month Intelsat launched its New Dawn satellite to provide capacity for customers in Africa, in conjunction with a consortium led by Convergence Partners. And late last year Google-backed O3b Networks secured the $1.2 billion funding needed to launch eight satellites; it plans to begin “fibre quality” commercial broadband services in emerging markets in 2013. n

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What we’re talking about in 2011: Breakfast

mHealth Update - 14 September mHealth is revolutionising healthcare on every level - social, environmental, and economic. What are the opportunities for operators?

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Global 100 Operators - 18 October In 2010 we predicted a shake up in the global operator rankings due to M&A activity. As the 2011 report comes to market, we examine whether these changes have materialised and look at the current drivers behind the new rankings.

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The Content Battle - 19 May Recent discussions around a two-tier Internet have reawakened the debate about customer satisfaction, maximising the commercial opportunities of content and content delivery networks.

Mobile Traffic Offloading - 13 July Demand for smart devices and explosive growth in data usage are grinding mobile networks to a halt. The only choice is to offload traffic: Total Telecom looks at the options.

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