Seychelles signs contract for fiber optic cable link          

The Seychelles government has signed a contract with French company Axiom to carry out a feasibility study on a new fiber-optic cable link.

Sources at the Department of Information Communications Technology said on Tuesday that the study will include a detailed environmental and social impact assessment for a Seychelles-East Africa submarine cable link.

Axiom has been chosen as it is a specialist in submarine fiber optics and telecommunications company, the sources said.

Axiom was also involved in the feasibility studies for the submarine cables being laid along the East coast of Africa.

The sources said the African Development Bank has agreed to bear the cost of the study which is expected to be completed by the end of January 2010.