VP Faure lauds teamwork behind fibre-optic cable link -

Vice-President Danny Faure has thanked all those who have been behind the installation of the 2,000 kilometre fibre-optic cable which arrived at Beau Vallon from Tanzania on Sunday.



Mr Faure – who is also the Minister for Information, Technology and Communication – commended their team spirit at the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove hotel during a reception hosted on Sunday evening to commemorate the arrival.

Referring to it as a vision realised, he said the cable is a new key piece of national infrastructure and commended the teamwork that prevailed during the planning for, financing and laying of the cable.

Mr Faure – who was himself earlier commended for his role by President James Michel – said the milestone event showed our resolve, resilience and determination as a population, calling the feat yet another victory for Seychelles.

“This cable represents a key piece of national infrastructure that will support our development as a country. This was why a few years ago, we started off with a vision.

“A vision to start a public private partnership that would undertake the responsibility for the laying of a submarine fibre-optic cable between East Africa and Seychelles.

“I am very proud to say that today this vision has become a reality. The cable is here and very soon people will start enjoying the benefits,” he said.

Projects of that magnitude do not happen without a team of dedicated individuals driving them, said Mr Faure.

He commended the Seychelles Cable System company (SCS) chairman Benjamin Choppy, who is also the principal secretary for Information, Technology and Communication as well as the chief executive of Cable and Wireless Charles Hammond and the chief executive of Airtel Tsirasy Randriamampiowana, noting their companies’ staff and previous heads played a big role.

“As government, we are counting on the two of you (Messrs Hammond and Randriamampiowana) and the other services providers, to ensure that the vision of increased internet penetration for our households is realised.”

He also commended Alcatel-Lucent who built the cable, and technical advisors AXIOM who did the feasibility study.

“Our appreciation also goes to Zantel, the telecommunication service provider in Tanzania, selected as the landing party cable host to connect us to the network of global infrastructure, and financiers African Development Bank as well as the European Investment Bank.”

He said the banks chose to finance a large project for the country shortly after we took bold decisions to transform the Seychelles economy.

“We would like to thank them for their faith in us,” he said, noting the EIB were even generous enough to give a grant of €4 million to the project.

Mr Faure said the government will continue to honour its commitment to its people, to ensure wider communication access and greater affordability in service delivery, as we step into the future and stay online with the cable.

Mr Choppy gave Mr Faure and the honorary consul to Tanzania Maryvonne Pool a sample of the cable as souvenirs.

http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=27655

Three Months into operation Sechelles Seychelles submarine fiber - optic cable severely damaged

Repairs to the damaged submarine fibre-optic cable are expected to be completed by mid-November, with a marine maintenance contractor already identified to carry out the work.

Mr ChoppyThis was said by the principal secretary for information communications technology Benjamin Choppy yesterday afternoon while updating the media on the events following the damaging of the cable, which happened last week off the coast of Tanzania.

Mr Choppy said, according to the investigation, a 200-metre long cargo ship had dropped an anchor on the cable at around 10km from the shore, and had severed it, cutting off services to Seychelles.

“We have already mobilised a ship to pick up the necessary spare parts, and security and to go do repair work on the cable, and we expect that all will be completed at around November 20-22,” he said.

“We have already carried out tests and located the exact place where the damage is, which is 10km from the shore and at 35km depth, and once the ship gets there, repair work will start immediately.”

The Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) in charge of the project has already indentified the ship responsible for the incident, and has contracted a legal team to handle the negotiations on compensation from the shipping line.

Mr Choppy said first contact has already been made, and that they are now building a case to know what exactly happened that day, but he declined to give more details due to the legal implications of the matter.

He also said that having a second fibre-optic cable as a backup would have been an ideal option for Seychelles, except that such a plan requires a large capital investment, but it is one they are nonetheless looking into.

“We cannot say for now how much the repairs will cost, but it will be significant,” he said.
Mr Choppy had recently accompanied Vice-President Danny Faure on a visit to Dubai for a conference, and had seized the opportunity to meet and have discussions with the chief executive and also the chairman of the E-Marine Company, to which SEAS has contracted its marine operations and repairs.

He added that they are now working with the relevant authorities, especially the Tanzanian ministry for Information Communication Technology, to ensure that there is better surveillance of the area where the cable lies.

He added that there is normally an exclusion zone around each cable or oil pipeline, which he said the cargo ship had entered illegally when it severed the cable.

Mr Choppy said fibre-optic cable cuts are not an uncommon event to happen, and said that the E-Marine company are reporting as many as three cable cuts per month, although with Seychelles having only one cable, this is a costly and harmful event to the country’s development.

http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=29187

Comment: Given our involvement in the deployment of the optic fiber/Super highway Africa/Asia connection, those of EU or view that Tanzania was not the best option for our Connectivity. Forget the fact that we were like the Stock Exchange leading the issues since 1995/2000 then PM Blair government - because of money - actually - political dishonesty in Sechelles Seychelles and around the world we became the last to get connected. We had preferred Kenya - because we are aware of the standards, other connectivity, policing, IT management, Benchmark - the question to ask how many in Sechelles Seychelles had foreseen this after the long wait, the razzmatazz, the media crap/con - 4 months into operation this grave incident. (In the media the official version of the accident took place occurred on the 11/10/12 - source in Sechelles Seychelles say the incident took place 21 days ago.)

What about financial contingency plan for such accident, repairs and loss of functionality and income. The debt repayment.

The shipping line/company ought to be in depth investigated - should any strange/bizarre or funny issues appear - then we ought to use our international connection and teach them /those involved a proper lesson - so that it is not repeated and others pay attention. For example the global melt down in 1995/6 was partly link to such corrupted benchmark and the price everybody had to pay.

This pose the issues of a second connectivity - if it is done the preferred option would be a link in the middle of the Indian Ocean and it can be done - if that option is not taken then do a Gulf Region connection.

Another important lesson the satellite connectivity will have to be developed and things are developing very rapidly in this sector too.

We would like to remind everybody - the situation with the EU and Iran sanction - the directive from the EU/NATO and others to shut down several radio and TV Station using a particular satellite. We ask those who can research/study and debate this issue. This is why President FA Rene had wish/wanted to have his own satellite and the Iranian people involved.

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/03/19/p0

http://www.zantel.co.tz/eassy.html

http://www.sott.net/article/242414-Undersea-Internet-Cables-Cut-AGAIN

New Glacis primary school inaugurated

28-March-2016

The newly constructed primary school at Glacis was inaugurated last Thursday by Vice-President Danny Faure and the Minister for Education Macsuzy Mondon.
Before that, Minister Mondon and the Chinese ambassador to Seychelles Yin Lixian had signed documents to mark the official handover of the school to the Seychelles government.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=248877