This month, the construction of the $235 million East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project will begin following the approval of $70.7 million in start-up funds from the IFC, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Germany's (KfW) and the AFD of France.

The 10,000km fibre-optic cable connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan will be laid by French firm Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, while firms from Britain , India , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates and the US are also part of the ambitious venture.

Initially the EASSy initiative would cut costs by up to two-thirds. Current costs of internet access in the region range from $200 to $300 a month.

Let me also point out that Kenya probably stands to benefit the most from this initiative for a number of reasons:

• It has both the population level and a density of private sector activity to be different
• Consumer and Business confidence has increased substantially with a liberalised regime. We hope that a similar climate can be maintained after the 2007 elections
• The market is readying itself for the arrival of cheaper bandwidth. This is evident with the increase in the number of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) companies already maxing out the available satellite bandwidth

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Back in February, I talked about solar power from the deserts, and it looks like this is finally going to become a reality. The $10bn solar power plan backed by a Jordanian prince could provide the EU with a sixth of its electricity needs in the very near future. The concept, dubbed DESERTEC, has many beneficiaries; The EU and North Africa (but mostly the EU) would benefit from the potential billions of watts of power and lower carbon emissions from this renewable source of energy. Believe it or not, waste from the plants is desalinized water which is worth more than its weight in gold in the arid regions of North Africa.

The aim of the project at this point is to bring the cost per kilowatt-hour down to roughly 25¢ or less for it to be more cost-effective than coal.

Read more at The Observer

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