Kenya's government will fully fund an undersea cable project if neighbouring countries and private investors fail to take up an offer to buy a stake in the initiative, a senior telecoms official said on Thursday.
Eager to slash telecommunication costs so as to launch a call centre outsourcing industry, the nation plans to lay down the $82 million East African Marine Systems cable to link its port city with the United Arab Emirates."We will build the cable with or without any partners," Bitange Ndemo, a top official in the information ministry, told Reuters.
The cable will be the first submarine link providing cheap broadband to the east African coast. Ndemo said the government had allocated half of the amount required to pay for its 40 percent share. U.A.E's Etisalat would take up a 15 percent stake of the project whose construction contract has been awarded to French firm Alcatel-Lucent.
Ndemo said Kenya had invited neighbouring nations to contribute a further 45 percent. If they failed to take up that share, the government would invite the Kenyan private sector to come on board.