Napoleon Adok Gai, the Director General of the National Communication Authority - Courtesy

The Director-General of the National Communication Authority has revealed plans to connect South Sudan with fiber optic cables through Ethiopia to reduce communication costs.

Napoleon Adok said discussions are underway with the Ethiopian Telecom company to reach a deal on the matter.

Fiber optics is the fastest medium of transmitting information over long distances, providing homes and businesses with affordable internet, telecommunication, and television services.

South Sudan is using satellites for telecommunication which made the communication tariff the highest in the region.

Adok says the foreign company will connect the eastern part of the country with fiber optics.

He was speaking on the state-run TV- SSBC at the ministry of information and telecommunication in Juba early this week.

“The team [Ethiotelecom] is here to explore the possibility of the market in South Sudan and to see where we can share what we are encouraging and requesting to improve our communication system and get affordable connectivity for our country,” said Adok.

“The only way we can do it is to invite the big players to help us and develop to bring more capacity and push down the cost of the connectivity as its today,

“We are calling on our neighbors to link us with marine cable and the area we are targeting to pilot our concept is through the Eastern border of our country from Pagak to Nasir up to Malakal and the oil field special in this dry season.”

For her part, the manager of Ethiopia’s telecom operator, Ethio Telecom, Frehiwot Tamru, says expanding and managing telecom infrastructure and using optical fiber cable will make prices of telecom services affordable.

“We are in Juba to explore the telecom services in the country and the need for expansion and development. We have been particularly in discussions with the National Communication Authority,” Frehiwot said.

“We understand here in South Sudan there is a need to develop communication infrastructure on the fiber side,

“As long as we are using satellites it will be very difficult to make telecommunication affordable. Our company has more than 24 thousand fiber connection cables.”

In October this year, the Director-General of the National Communication Authority said the government planned to fully connect the country with fiber optics in the next four years.

According to Napoleon Adok, the communication authority also planned to extend the connection to Eastern DR Congo and the Central Africa Republic.

He said the initiative could make South Sudan the center of connectivity to other neighboring countries.