NAIROBI - The first East African Fibre Conference, scheduled for Nairobi in September this year is meant to assess developments and the impact of the landing of the region’s first undersea cables.

Announcing the conference, Sean Moroney, Chairman of AITEC Africa, the organizers of the event, said, "East Africa is on the eve on a communications revolution, which will be brought about by the landing of the region’s first undersea cables to the outside world this year.”

”Governments and corporate users in the region need to prepare for the transition from a predominantly satellite-based communications infrastructure to one that is fibre cable-based,” he added.

Moroney also said that there is need for an urgent need for new approaches to financing and building out information and communication infrastructure to address large unmet demand for ICT services.

”Technological innovation helps make these new approaches possible and more flexible approaches to financing, service delivery and regulation will make them effective and sustainable,” he added.

The summit will also provide practical business and technology briefings to empower resellers, service providers and users to maximise their returns on their existing investments in satellite technologies and how to extend their ROI over the transition period, with blended communication systems as fibre comes on stream.

The organisers said that hybrid systems will be the order of the day, with wireless broadband and VoIP also boosted substantially as available bandwidth multiplies dramatically over the coming years.

The East African Fibre Summit will provide participants with answers to crucial technical and business questions, enabling them to make the right deployment decisions at a time when 3G technologies are making an increasing impact in the region, ahead of the new fibre era.

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