By Submarine Cable NewsFeed

Gilat Satcom, a leading broadband network

operator in East Africa, has announced that it will invest in The East African Marine System (TEAMS), the 4,900-km submarine cable that will run from Mombasa,

Kenya, to Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

Gilat Satcom said in a statement that the investment would grant it access and rights to use bandwidth capacity on

the cable over the lifetime of the cable,

According to the statement, Gilat Satcom said that it intends to invest US$1.4 million into the project to purchase

1.25% of TEAMS' shares. The investment will become payable in the coming year, and will be funded from existing resources. In December 2007, the TEAMS consortium

signed the supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent; construction work could take up to 16 months and is due to be completed by the end of the first quarter of

2009.

Last year, Gilat Satcom also announced that it would invest and purchase bandwidth capacity on another cable, the East African Submarine Cable System

(EASSy). That investment was to be made through the Western Indian Ocean Cable Company Ltd (WIOCC), which would purchase approximately 40% of EASSy's

capacity.

Gilat Satcom said that it intended to invest some US$2.3 million, equivalent to some 3.5% of WIOCC's share capital, comprising US$1.3 million

within a year and the US$1 million between 2009 and 2011.

“The ability to secure capacity on the first fiber optic telecom cable system in East Africa will

help Gilat expand its operations throughout East Africa,” said Amos Lasker, Gilat's chief executive officer, in a company press release at the time.