The Government of Kenya has awarded an $82 million contract to Alcatel-Lucent to execute The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) project, under which a submarine telecom cable will be built linking Kenya to the United Arab Emirates. Five firms had qualified to bid for the country's first submarine telecom link with the rest of the world. The Kenyan government will hold 40 per cent stake in the project while Etisalat will hold 15 per cent. According to sources, the project will take up to 16 months to execute, and is most likely to be finished by the second quarter of 2009.