TEAMS shareholders include the Wanachi Group, Kenya Data Networks, AccessKenya and Etisalat of the UAE.

The TEAMS cable was laid through to Mombasa, Kenya, before the Seacom project cable, which went live last month. But the TEAMS cable will not be operational until the third quarter.

A Kenyan-Europe link was part of the original plan for TEAMS but details were not clearly provided on how it was going to be established, leaving operators with no choice, ultimately, but to negotiate and pay for onward connectivity on their own.

The 5,000 kilometer cable was laid under the Indian Ocean at a cost of US$130 million by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). Once operational, it is widely hoped that it will spur the growth of new industries such as business process outsourcing (BPO) and provide the country much-needed economic growth.