AccessKenya Group has acquired installed a fibre monitoring system for its 450km carrier ethernet fiber optic network in a move to prevent constant cable cuts experienced on its fibre network.
The firm that has over 595 buildings connected to fibre in Nairobi and Mombasa and intends to grow its internet, IT solutions, Cloud, data backup and MPLS services for its corporate and enterprise clients and expand its wireless network coverage to include all the 47 counties in Kenya by the end of 2014.
According to the firm, the system installed in November now enables it to detect unanticipated faults on its terrestrial fibre cables and can also pick up fibre degradation.
Group Managing Director, Jonathan Somen said, “With this system in place we can now coordinate network faults and better map distances to resolve such interruptions much faster, even as we expand our metropolitan coverage.”
“Ninety percent of disruption to our infrastructure is caused by contractors and cases of vandalism. We have deployed numerous redundant rings throughout our network to guarantee no downtime for clients especially within these areas”, added Somen.
AccessKenya currently spends about Ksh 200,000 in repair costs for every fibre cut and which average three to four weekly with Nairobi being, the most affected. This system will help reduce the time to repair any damages, predict areas that need replacement and help it save money.