Warrior event was still in everyone’s memory. It is for these reasons among others that STC (UK) rejected the Alcatel‘s suggestion to come with a joint bid, to offer a “European” solution. One of the winning factors has been the Port-Botany cable factory. Such a factory was a strong requirement from OTC (now Telstra) and the Australian Government. Alcatel was the most motivated. Such a factory could expand its influence in the Pacific where the three other players were historically well established in this region, which represents a large part of their market. They saw this factory as a risk for their existing facilities! honour to for the came general interest. I If you think these venture capital companies theSubOptic ‘87work in Versailles at the right time. excellent memory of the various working are investing there to make money, to get a keep It is where the Australian teams discovered the meetings and the beautiful opening ceremonies! quick and good return on their investment, you and l’Astrolabe, landed in 1788 to discover that French model, a close cooperation between I still have great friends in Africa from that are damned wrong! No, no , not at all! You Captain Cook was already around bearing the Alcatel and FT, exactly what they wanted to esperiod! miss the point. They are not like those people British flag. So Botany Bay is now for me the tablish in their country. from the “colonial” time who were coming in symbol of a dream which becomes a reality! friend,times things since, but We are inMy different andare a lotchanged of investments Africa with the sole intention to serve their Tasman 2 has been yet another chapter areone thing to stays true:the When you offer something, needed build network Africa now own interests! in this long Anglo-French competition! The needs. African while the reader canoperators, see between thebuilding lines if their you are came out as aI big surprise to networks, need to get access and to money a I award am onetoofAlcatel these “colonialists,” guess. or not genuinely motivated sincere.at Then cost. But I am not sure the carriers’ many, including inside Alcatel. Everybody was reasonnable your offer becomes really attractive and this I remember in the 70s -- building coaxial is thetothe right one! naturally expecting the British to win that bat- carrier opensmodel the route “Botany Bay.”It will only cables -- a long festoon from Portugal to produce distressed assets that carriers will be tle, and such an expectation was at that time Morocco , Senegal , Ivory Coast and Nigeria. happy toSee buy cheap later on. very logical. you soon. All these African countries had become There were so many difficulties and recently independent. The owners of these misunderstanding between Australia and infrastructures were adhoc JVs between the France, the main being the presence Submarcom Consulting operators and the one financing wasFrench provided by in bank the Pacific area, the worse being the the through “supplier credit.” We nuclear were bomb experiment in Tahiti! The sad Rainbow proud and happy to bring the much needed
Letter to a friend from Jean Devos
My dear friend, I have the privilege to look at what is going on in the market from a certain distance . I am now observing a phenomenum I need to think about and share with you. Most of the cable being built recently are owned by carriers in response to carriers’ needs. It is often said “Botany Bay” that today’s surge is very different from the I published recently a modest novel, whose title one of the years 1997-2000. That one was is Botany Bay. It isdriven the place in Australia where very speculative, by investors looking Alcatel for good and quick return. We allestablished know whata submarine cable fachappened then .
My Dear Friend
tory in 1989 as part of
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And it is in Africa today,its andcontract only in for Africa the that one can see the coming back of investors’s Tasman 2 link. In this cables, the carrier’s carrier model! SeaCom same bay, where two on the East side; Infinity ,centuries Main One, recently before the annouced on the West coast. In each of these French expedition press releases I have seen theses words “for “La Pérouse” made of Africa by Africans.” Let’s quote Brian Herlihy two ships, La Boussole the President of Seacom: “This is a major milestone in the development of advanced broadband infrastructure for Africa by Africans,” and “We have a mandate that’s been approved by the board that we will provide education research networks throughout Africa with sub-cost bandwidth.“
“For Africa, by Africans”
Jean Jean DevosDevos
connectivity to these new countries. And nobody, I repeat nobody, made any money through these projects. The idea was that this was a necessary expense to build a much needed infrastructure . We had
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