Kenya grapples with fiber cuts

The country of Kenya has been stung by the network architecture it has chosen for its national fiber-optic infrastructure.

Winfred Kagwe of news provider The Star has reported that the permanent secretary of Kenya's ministry of information and communications, Bitange Ndemo, is proposing changes to the way fiber-optic cabling systems are designed and administered in his country.

The catalyst for these proposed changes is a string of fiber cuts, the most recent of which "nearly [cut] off the entire country for two days," Kagwe reported. He further stated that Ndemo is proposing changes intended to reduce the incidence of outages when cuts happen.

The country has not implemented a ring architecture for its fiber-optic cabling system, leaving it prone to widespread outages like those it has experienced recently. Ndemo is quoted as saying, "Initially we thought everyone would behave, so we put all the cable in the one-line format; this is what is causing the outages."

Kagwe reports that experts are saying the financial loss suffered by the outages "runs into millions."

You can read Winfred Kagwe's full report here.

FOA president chronicles training trip through Africa

Jim Hayes, president of The Fiber Optic Association, posted on the FOA website a summary of his recent trip to three African countries during which he, other FOA personnel, and professionals based in Africa provided fiber-optic training.

The training sessions took place May 9 in Johannesburg, South Africa; May 17 in Nairobi, Kenya; and May 20 in Lusaka, Zambia. In his journal-style summary of the trip, Hayes noted, "As one of the fastest growing markets for telecommunications, Africa is planning the installation of more fiber-optic infrastructure and needs trained technicians to perform the design, installation and maintenance work necessary ... Our visits to South Africa, Kenya and Zambia gave us a view into the variations in developments in Africa, with SA being on a par with the U.S., Europe or the Asian rim countries, Kenya rapidly building infrastructure and Zambia in an earlier stage of development."

He noted that many submarine cables reach African shores, and the current need is to build infrastructure within the continent and distribute it for general use.

Rather than copy or paraphrase Hayes's writing, I'll encourage you to read it for yourself here on the FOA website. Doing so will also give you an opportunity to see all the photos from the FOA's trip to Africa as well as to find other items and resources on that site. The "report from Africa" is part of the FOA's June online newsletter, which also includes an article that asks if telecom is dead, information about the new FOA iPad app, news about Corning running out of fiber and more.

Fiber installers, splicers needed in U.S. Southeast

Eric Pearson of Pearson Technologies Inc. is recruiting professionals experienced in fiber-optic installation and splicing to help restore the many telephone lines that were damaged by the storms that recently ravaged the U.S. Southeast region.

Pearson is looking for experienced outside-plant contractors and installers for a project that will begin promptly and is expected to take approximately 90 days. Applicants are expected to have their own equipment.

Pearson can be reached by telephone at 770-490-9991 or by email at fiberguru@ptnowire.com.