The construction of a planned submarine optical fiber cable to link southern and northern Africa via the Indian Ocean coast will start next year at a cost of 230 million US dollars.

The figure was disclosed at a five-day conference held in Tanzania that concluded on Friday.

Once complete and in operation in mid-2007, the two-inch in- diameter, 9,900-km undersea cable links sea bordering countries in between Durban of South Africa and Port Sudan.

Landlocked countries next to these sea bordering countries will also benefit from the cabling system, known as the Eastern African Submarine System (EASSy).

A total of 17 countries are expected to benefit from improved communication services and lowered communication costs thanks to the EASSy cable and these countries include Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The cable is to be laid by an undersea robot at a depth of about 2,500 meters to avoid being destroyed by docking ships.

Source: Xinhua