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An agreement has been reached between South Africa's Telkom and its Zimbabwean counterpart to upgrade the telecommunications transmission link between the two countries, 'Business Day' reported on Monday. Telkom spokesman Andrew Weldrick said the US$ 7.5 million project signified another boost for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Information Initiative.
He said the existing analogue transmission link between Messina in South Africa's Northern Province and Gweru in Zimbabwe would be upgraded to a digital link. This was necessary to accommodate the increasing volume of communications traffic between the countries. The transmission link within South Africa up to Messina was already digital, as was the link within Zimbabwe from Gweru. The new digital system was expected to be operational by July this year, Weldrick said.
The project is part of a larger initiative to upgrade and expand the existing terrestrial telecommunications network that links all the SADC countries. The estimated cost of the whole initiative was US $180 million and it would be completed in three two-year phases, Telkom said.
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