Nairobi, February 25, 2010 - The AccessKenya Group, the first publicly listed ICT Company and Kenya’s leading data and IT services experts, and Jamii Telecommunications Limited (Jamii), Kenya’s leading ICT Network Services Provider, today announced that AccessKenya will be the first live customer on Jamii’s new fiber network between Nairobi and Mombasa. This follows conclusion of Jamii’s lease of KPLC’s Dark Fibre between those two points.  

 

Jamii was the first operator to install its own international gateway after the liberalization of the sector in 2005, and AccessKenya was Jamii’s first customer on that gateway.  The companies have since enjoyed a strong relationship, and this latest agreement is a natural extension of that relationship.

 

 "It is 5 years since we became Jamii’s first customer on their international gateway and we are delighted that both companies – two of the very few Kenyan owned businesses in the ICT space - have gone from strength to strength over those years in delivering high quality services at affordable prices to Kenyans.” commented Jonathan Somen, Managing Director of AccessKenya Group.

 

“We currently have different national providers for our Nairobi–Mombasa connectivity to TEAMS and Seacom, ensuring that we have redundancy between the two cables and this allows us to offer the most reliable service in the industry. However, we have been planning to augment this redundancy by having two national connections for each cable between Nairobi and Mombasa, and we have been waiting for Jamii’s new network to go live in order to be able to add this resilience to both of our connections. This redundancy adds to the extra back up we have put in place with Jamii for our most critical connections to the international web in both Nairobi and Mombasa, where their capacity supplements our own fibre network. Providing multiple paths and therefore redundancy on our links is key to delivering the best possible service to our clients and ensuring we remain ahead of the pack in terms of service and reliability.” continued Somen.

 

Mr. C.K. Joshua, Chairman/CEO of Jamii Telecommunications Limited, added: “Following the signing of our agreement with KPLC, we are pleased to announce that our Nairobi-Mombasa intercity network has gone live in record time, supplementing our existing capacity on that route and our existing metro networks covering Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Thika as well as Eldoret and Kisumu metros currently at an advanced stage and scheduled for completion in quarter 1 of this year. We have capacity of 400Gbps between Nairobi and Mombasa which is adequate capacity to transmit all communication requirements between Nairobi, Mombasa and the rest of the world. We shall soon be commissioning another intercity network on the western route through Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Tororo.”

 

“We are pleased to have AccessKenya as our first customer on the service, having worked with the Group for many years. As Jamii continues to roll out national network, we believe that AccessKenya will continue to be our partner on our upcoming routes.”