Repairs on Kenya web cable to take three weeks
An undersea fibre optic Internet cable that was sliced by a ship's anchor in the Kenyan port of Mombasa will be fully repaired in about three weeks, an official said Tuesday.
The cable was severed Saturday by a ship dropping anchor in the congested port of Mombasa, east Africa's main marine hub, in an area that is generally off-limits.
The 5,000-kilometre (3,000-mile) broadband cable, known as The East African Marine System (TEAMS), was laid in 2008 and 2009 and stretches across the ocean floor from Mombasa to the United Arab Emirates.
Joel Tanui, who heads TEAMS, said up to 10 percent of the cable's function had already been restored, enough for crucial services such as banking.
"These works are expected to take about three weeks, with maximum effort being made to reduce the downtime and its impact" Tanui said.
The cable is one of three underwater pipes that supply high-speed data to east Africa. It was built at a cost of $130 million (100 million euros) as a joint venture between the Kenyan government and private sector.
The cable's slicing has caused considerable delays in Internet communications in Kenya and neighbouring countries.
(c) 2012 AFP
