Alcatel-Lucent has signed an $79 million deal with the East Africa Marine System consortium to build an optic fibre cable network.

Alcatel-Lucent has signed an $79 million deal with the East Africa Marine System consortium to build an optic fibre cable network.

The 4,900 km cable will link the Kenyan port of Mombasa with Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the terms of the deal, the Kenyan government will have a 20 per cent stake in the cable network while the UAE-based telecom company Etisalat will hold 15 per cent. The remaining 65 per cent will be open to bids from neighbouring countries. If there are no takers for this share, it will be offered to Kenyan investors. Network installation is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2009. When complete, the cable network will serve several countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia.