Phase one of the project covers 7,000 km and the second phase will cover 3,000 km. Like other cables in the region, Nkoma said, the Tanzania network will be deployed by the government to promote e-governance, e-health, e-commerce and e- learning.

Burundi is currently laying a 1,300-km cable at a cost of $10.5 million, using a grant from the World Bank. The cable will cover key entry points -- two on the Rwandan border and one on the Tanzanian side. The cable will also cover the capital, Bujumbura, and all the 17 provinces. ZTE of China has been awarded the tender to lay the cable. The first phase of the project is expected to be ready early next year.

The cable is also expected to reduce the cost of Internet access by more than 70 percent. Today, Internet users in Burundi pay some of the highest rates for connectivity in Africa.

In Uganda, the government acquired a Chinese loan of about $102 million to lay a cable over 2,100 km long, which has been embroiled in a corruption scandal and is more than 18 months behind schedule. In 2009, the Ugandan Parliament ordered a forensic audit following claims that Huawei of China, the project implementer, was laying the wrong cable. The audit faulted Huawei and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, which was monitoring the works, for poor works as well as pricing anomalies on the part of Huawei.

Patrick Mwesigwa, the acting head of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) told the Congress that it is implementing the backbone project in three phases with the first phase already done.