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New East Africa cable to go live in April

Following the recent broadband cable cut that affected much of East Africa’s connectivity, the new Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION2) is set to go live and active on 14 April, 2012.

A map showing the location of the LION2 cable (image: subseaworldnews.com)

The landing station in Mombassa has been completed, and will enable the lead investor in the project, Orange Kenya, to begin leasing broadband Internet services to potential service providers, the company said.

The cable was built by France Telecom at a cost of KES 6.2 billion. Orange Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein told Business Daily on Wednesday, adding that the LION2 cable “will provide a redundancy route to operators using the other three cables, the East African Marine System (TEAMS), Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and Seacom.”

He added that the cable will be going live mid-next month, “and Orange is targeting operators currently connected to the other cables but looking for affordable redundancy routes to the Middle East.”

The cable covers some 3,000 kilometers to Nyali, Mombasa via the island of Mayotte located in the northern Mozambique channel from Mauritius.

Joseph Mayton

March 30, 2012/by actualize

Orange Kenya needs $120m bailout

Telecom operator Orange Kenya has asked the government for a KES 10 billion ($120 million) bailout, news reports revealed on Wednesday. The move comes as the company continues to incur massive debts following its 2007 buyout by France Telecom.

Orange Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein. (image: file)

Orange made a record loss of KES 18.2 billion in 2011 and needs to raise KES 5.8 billion in order to repay bank loans by the end of the month.

According to documents published online, Orange Kenya’s management said it has hit a “brick wall”. They warn the Kenyan Treasury and France Telecom, that if the emergency cash injection failed to arrive, the operator would be unable to meet its immediate commitments (about KES 1.6 billion) to Standard Chartered Bank.

According to analysts this, “will trigger a chain reaction that could see bank loans worth KES 12.5 billion from Standard Chartered and KCB called in”.

The company added that they would only be able to cover basics like electricity, water, security and salaries.

Orange Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein said in a statement yesterday, that the total amount of shareholder loans being requested “was still under discussion”.

Joseph Mayton

March 23, 2012/by actualize