Nine eastern and southern African countries are planning to install a submarine fiber cable off the east African coast to lower telecommunication costs in the area.

Delegates from leading telecom companies in the nine countries who signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the cable are meeting in Kampala to consider implementation, according to local media on Friday.

The 8,840 km, 200 million-US dollar East African Submarine Systems Project (EASSY), will run from Djibouti through Somalia's Mogadishu, Kenya's Mombassa, Tanzania's Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar,then through Maputo in Mozambique with a link to Mahajanga in Madagascar and to the coastal town of Mtunzini in South Africa.

The undersea fiber-optic cable project will be completed in 2006.

Source: Xinhua