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 "They're buying FTTC in Togo," Ron Levin of ECI tells me. Central America and South Asia also are asking us for GPON. If it's a new build almost anywhere, they are going straight to fiber." Despite the crisis, private and public money are both interested. "New builds, anywhere in the world, are fiber today." Even in Togo, where about a third of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day. Only 22,000 square miles, six million people mostly make ends meet by subsistence agriculture. They have over 1M mobile phones, but only about 80,000 landlines.
Kenya Data Services went to Alcatel for their GPON gear.
The South African controlled company has a growing corporate data market. The East Africa Marine Systems (TEAMS) has now landed at Mombasa, connecting Kenya to Etisalat and international connections from the Emirates. SEACOM, a competitive cable, is due to begin in 21 days. EASSY is underconstruction.
Even where labor is less expensive it's still about 60% of the cost, compared to about 75% in more developed areas. Levin wouldn't discuss with me the equipment pricing, but I know many small deals are $300-450 in the U.S., all in. Verizon's 3M a year should be getting a much lower price than that, and the 5-10M lines China Telecom is putting in probably went really cheaply. The GEPON folks talked under $100 in that quantity, and I believe the GPON vendors that won a large trial had to come close. Alcatel-Shanghai Bell was awarded 40% of the early order, and it made sense for them to give CT a remarkable price at the early stage.
ECI also had a major announcement with Tata, a surprise because the Indian fixed line business is down from 40M to about 37M lines. "It's TV, not computers, that are driving the Indians," he believes. India's cable is relatively weak, possibly leaving an opening for IPTV.
The ECI Togo win was despite the pervasive and well-funded efforts of China to win business in Africa. The China Exim Bank provided $30M to Togo Telecom for a wireless network. Chinese government banks are providing over $20B to Huawei and ZTE in export financing. The funding is winning Chinese companies many orders. |
