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Roads agency seeks deal with telcom firms on fibre optic cables [Business Daily (Kenya)](Business Daily (Kenya) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) has come up with proposals to telecom firms that if implemented are set to reduce the number of fibre optic cuts, saving millions of shillings lost in repairs and downtime. The roads agency said that it was ready to work with the firms to provide telecommunication ducts along the highway, which will be shared by all providers. In the first proposal, KeNHA said it would designate areas where the Internet and mobile phone service providers would jointly construct the ducts at their cost along major roads that are already complete such as Thika superhighway. In the second plan, KeNHA said that it would bear the cost of building the ducts alongside the roads that it plans to construct in future. The move is set to benefit providers such as Safaricom, Jamii Telecoms, AccessKenya and Telkom Kenya that have invested billions of shillings in fibre optic infrastructure and incur millions in repairs and maintenance. KeNHA Assets Protection Unit manager John Otiato said: "We are willing to find a solution to this problem and the best way we intend to go about it is, first the providers must form a committee that will meet with our team to come up with the way forward," Mr Otiato said. "We have received a number of complaints from the telcos, but this normally happens after the construction work has started. However, the ideal situation should be to have all the information during the planning and budgeting stage so that we can factor in such ducts." The absence of a working formula between KeNHA and the telcos has seen the service providers identify road contractors and furnish them with their cable maps to guide construction works. However, the operators say, the contractors ignore the maps, disrupting Internet services with frequent destruction of fibre optic cables. Jamii Telecoms chairman Joshua Chepkwony said that a team led by ICT Authority chief executive Victor Kyalo would enter into talks with KeNHA over the plan. "The operators have invested heavily in urban areas, which are under the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, so in the meeting with KeNHA we will also be seeking to know how such investment can be protected, especially those areas that experience high rates of uncontrolled development," he said. The proposal is in line with the government's National Broadband Strategy Broadband strategy which among other things seeks to reduce the cost of doing business by ensuring that operators share their infrastructure. In the proposals, the Communications Authority of Kenya is also pushing for amendment of legislation to harmonise the central and county governments ICT-related laws, so as to require providers of infrastructure to make a provision for future installation of fibre optic cables. The government is keen to boost the uptake of quality Internet as it moves to roll out e-government services such as tele-presence facility that links the Nairobi Court of Appeal to other courts, among other agencies. The proposal to categorise ICT as a high-energy user and create special tariffs and rebates on power is expected to reduce the cost of doing business. (c) 2014 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info, an Albawaba.com company |