Nairobi (IT News Africa) Fibre optic communication in Kenya is under threat due to increased vandalism of the infrastructure, The Standard said on Tuesday.
According to the report, Telkom-Kenya has warned that cable vandalism might affect the smooth operations if the vice goes on unchecked.
The company’s Chief Executive Dominique Saint-Jean said vandalism on the fixed line copper network has seen Telkom lose hundreds of millions of shillings every year in the past and is now a threat to the new fibre optic network.
“If it is not addressed, vandalism will evolve and affect the new communication highway,” he said.
The vice has been prevalent on the copper cable network and has seen Telkom-Kenya spend heavily to deploy security or on repair works.
The money, the firm says, should have gone to the development of infrastructure.
The continent in recent weeks has been full of praise to the fibre optic communications which is viewed as the gateway to development. SEACOM launched its 1,28 Terabytes per second (Tb/s), 17,000 kilometre, submarine fibre optic cable system linking south and east Africa to global networks via India and Europe last month.
The launch of SEACOM opened up unprecedented opportunities, at a fraction of the current cost, as government, business leaders and citizens can now use the network as the platform to compete globally, drive economic growth and enhance the quality of life across the continent.
