wiredInUSA October 2020

Kenya’s cable security concerns

Highest density installation

Charles Keter

The new fiber count cable from Furukawa

Kenya Power’s Going Under initiative, which has seen the company install around 600km of underground network in and around Nairobi and other major towns, has failed to protect against vandalism. The total length of underground medium voltage lines (33kV and 11kV) in Nairobi and other major towns is 521km, with 66km of high voltage (66kV) lines. Copper vandals are continuing to target cables, threatening the firm’s efforts to reduce outages and stabilize supply. The government’s Energy Cabinet secretary, Charles Keter, said there are plans to upgrade systems to detect the breaches, given the high cost associated with repairing vandalized copper. “They use very crude methods,” he added: “Including lighting fires ... to cause a blackout, [and] then cutting the wires.” Thecountry’s EnergyAct classifies electrical equipment vandalism as an economic crime, punishable by a minimum fine of Sh5 million (over $40,000) or a minimum jail term of ten years upon conviction.

Furukawa Electric Co Ltd (FEC) deployed a 6,912-fiber-count cable into a 1.25 inch (32mm) conduit at a data center campus in North America. FEC had warned that the high fill ratio is not recommended for outside plant deployments, but the owner of the campus network was willing to assume the risks associated with the deployment in anticipation of the benefits of a high fiber count. The deployment followed an experiment carried out by FEC at its facility in Mie, Japan, where the company installed a 6,912-fiber cable with an outer diameter of 1.14 inches (29mm) in a 696-foot (200m) lconduit with three 90 degree curves andan inner diameter of 32mm. FEC reported that its engineers confirmed a maximum pulling tension of 84lb (372N) which, the company confirmed, is below the maximum pulling tension of 600lb (2700N) specified for the cable. “The FEC 6,912 fiber optic cable at least doubled the fiber count possible in a 1.25 inch conduit,” said Ichiro Kobayashi, general manager of FEC’s optical fiber and cable engineering department.

wiredInUSA October 2020

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