Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

SciDevNet: Africa still dependent on satellite net access

admin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:15:15 +0000

Africa still relies heavily on expensive satellite connections to gain access to the Internet, according to a report released this month (July 23).

Over 80 per cent of African Internet use is routed through satellite connections, says the report by the South Africa-based telecommunications analysts BMI-TechKnowledge, who work in 40 African countries.

Efforts are underway to switch to using high-bandwidth fibre optic cables, with at least ten being built.

GAID Africa Regional Network

World Bank: Broadband for Africa - Policy for Promoting the Development of Backbone Networks, by Mark Williams

admin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:15:40 +0000

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa see ICT as a foundation of long-term economic development. The region has been very successful in increasing access to basic voice communications but there has been no comparable improvement in broadband connectivity. The broadband access gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world is getting wider, just as the gap in basic voice communications is getting smaller. Increasing access to broadband connectivity is therefore emerging as a high priority for policymakers across the continent.

GAID Africa Regional Network

IPS: Mobile Phones Soar in Internet-Starved Africa

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:46:00 +0000

The beleaguered African continent continues to lag far behind the rest of the world in battling poverty, hunger and HIV/AIDS, but it is making dramatic progress in the field of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

The technological advances, however, are limited primarily to mobile phones.

GAID Africa Regional Network

ITU: African Telecommunication/ICT Indicators 2008: At a crossroads

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:41:07 +0000

The number of mobile subscribers has increased dramatically over the last few years. In 2007, the African continent added over 60 million new mobile subscribers and mobile represents some 90 percent of all telephone subscribers, and mobile penetration in the region is close to 30 percent .

GAID Africa Regional Network

The Wall Street Journal: Telecom Players Focus on Africa

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:02:59 +0000

Amid a global scramble for new subscribers, telecommunications operators and investors are taking a sudden shine to a place with lots of potential customers: Africa.

GAID Africa Regional Network

APC: The Case for “Open Access” Communications Infrastructure in Africa: The SAT-3/WASC cable

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:30:56 +0000

This study examining the impact the SAT-3 fibre optic submarine cable has had on telecommunications in four African countries has found that the potential of the cable has not been properly exploited. Instead, ownership of the cable by telecoms incumbents in the countries researched has reinforced their market positions.

GAID Africa Regional Network

GSMA: Taxation and the growth of mobile services in sub-Saharan Africa

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:20:28 +0000

The mobile industry in sub-Saharan Africa has pledged to invest some $50 billion over the next five years to extend coverage to rural areas and roll out mobile broadband services. This represents about a five-fold average increase in annual investment since the beginning of the decade.

GAID Africa Regional Network

The Economist: Bringing the poor online

admin — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:44:02 +0000

Mobile phones have improved poor people’s lives tremendously, from providing political news and health-care information in remote areas to fuelling commerce. Enthusiasm over bringing technology to the world’s poor has been matched in the computing industry, with many companies now selling low-cost laptop computers (so far around $200, but poised to drop much further). But the next digital hurdle—providing internet access—will be much harder to surmount, for both economic and geographical reasons.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

APA: French telecom outfit faces problems in providing service in Africa

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:59:12 +0000

French private telecommunications company RASCOMSTAR qaf Toulouse, in charge of operating the system of the first pan-African telecommunication satellite RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication) launched on 22 December 2007, told APA that it is endeavouring to know more about the leakage in the pressurisation system of the fuel tanks of the satellite reported on December 29th by the constructor Thales Alenia Space.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

RNA: New Cable Promises Faster Internet

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:14:42 +0000

Twenty-three coastal and landlocked countries in East and Southern Africa have finalized plans for an undersea cable that could make telephone and Internet use more available and affordable.

The project is an important part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), said Edmund Katiti, an expert with the e-Africa Commission. The commission oversees telecommunications activities for NEPAD and seeks to promote development of the continent's communications network.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

UN News: UN partners with European Commission to boost ICT investment

admin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:46:31 +0000

A new agreement between the United Nations telecommunications agency and the European Commission aims to attract greater investments in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia and the Pacific.

The collaboration between the UN International Telecommunication Union ITU) and the Commission is a follow-up to commitments made at the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, in October when the EC expressed support for the agency's regulatory reform initiatives in Africa.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

IPS: Undersea Cable Buoys Africa's Digital Prospects

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:27:15 +0000

Africa, the world's least plugged-in continent, is moving closer to reliable telecommunications and affordable Internet access.

Construction of a 10,000-kilometre undersea fibre-optic cable connecting 21 East, Southern, and Central African countries to West Africa and Europe is to begin next month following the announcement Monday that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and others have come up with 70.7 million dollars in financing for the project.

GAID Africa Regional Network

ECA: Connect Africa Summit adopts five goals to bridge the digital divide in Africa

admin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:41:30 +0000

The Connect Africa Summit which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, on 29 - 30 October 2007, ended with the adoption of five goals to bridge the digital divide in Africa.

The Summit, which was held under the patronage of the President of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame, gathered over a thousand participants from 54 countries, including six Heads of State and Government. Forty-three countries in Africa were represented, including 23 at the Ministerial level.

GAID Africa Regional Network

APC Blog: The Summit of Assurances

admin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:37:48 +0000

If the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was the summit of opportunities, Connect Africa can be best described as the summit of assurances.

Listening to panelists at the first day of the International Telecommunications Union's Connect Africa Summit in Kigali one cannot but wonder why, if connecting Africa is going so well, why it was necessary to convene the summit at all.

GAID Africa Regional Network

VOA News: Rwanda Conference Highlights Potential for African Communications Bonanza

admin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:24:06 +0000

A telecommunications conference in Rwanda's capital Kigali has laid the groundwork for the investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in innovative ways to connect people in neighboring countries and facilitate exchanges across the entire continent and the outside world. Rwanda's Minister of State for Communications and Energy Albert Butare says that the two-day summit last week attracted a high turnout of heads of state and representatives from some of the world's leading information technology companies.

GAID Africa Regional Network

ITWeb: Policy slows African network roll-out

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:56:40 +0000

Emphasis on a Pan African ICT regulatory environment is a vital ingredient in speeding up broadband infrastructure network deployment across the African continent.

The statement was made by Sami Al-Basheer Al Morshid, director of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Development Bureau, at the recent Connect Africa Summit, in Rwanda. The lack of high-capacity broadband infrastructure in Africa's capital cities and between cities was under the spotlight at the event.

GAID Africa Regional Network

Prensa Latina: Over 55 Billion Committed to Connect Africa

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:51:41 +0000

Commitments for over 55 billion dollars were made to interconnect all African capitals and major cities with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

A report issued by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on the recently concluded Connect Africa Summit, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 29 to 30 October, says that by 2015, broadband and ICT services will be extended to all African villages.

GAID Africa Regional Network

Liverpool Daily Post: Africa deserves help to make most of internet possibilities

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:35:06 +0000

Rwanda – for so long in the headlines as a country suffering a plight close to self-destruction – is now hosting a major conference about how this huge continent can be better connected to the internet.

GAID Africa Regional Network

People's Daily Online: Africa-China cooperation in ICT win-win

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:31:48 +0000

A senior official of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has said that the information and communication technology (ICT) cooperation between China and Africa will lead to a win-win result.

"Chinese companies like Huawei, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the ITU to have many training initiatives for Africa. Such training is not only good for Africa's economy, at the same time it will help the firm to expand the market," Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, director of ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, told Xinhua Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

GAID Africa Regional Network

AFP: Africa To Get $55 Billion In Internet Aid By '12

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:27:25 +0000

Africa will receive investments worth $55 billion to boost its goal of securing universal Internet access by 2012, the International Telecommunication Union said Wednesday.

The international commitments were made at the two-day "Connect Africa" summit that ended in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Tuesday, with a pledge to speed up technology in the continent, the ITU said in a statement.

GAID Africa Regional Network

BBC: Intel backs wireless Africa plan

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:46:40 +0000

Africa needs to embrace wireless broadband as a potential solution to the digital divide, the chairman of Intel Craig Barrett has said.

"It's cheaper, easier and more efficient to communicate wirelessly," he told the BBC News website.

GAID Africa Regional Network

SciDevNet: African leaders endorse ICT to cut poverty

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:21:50 +0000

frican leaders have unanimously agreed to improve access to information communication technology (ICT) to address the continent's development shortfalls and cut poverty by 2012.

The African leaders gathered in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, yesterday (29 October) at the 'Connect Africa Summit' — convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) — to discuss ways of ensuring better access to ICT.

GAID Africa Regional Network

AFP: Africa must get broadband to grow economies, summit says

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:05:26 +0000

African countries must get broadband Internet connections if they are to attract foreign investment, a pan-African technology conference said Tuesday.
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The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and African Development Bank (AfDB) jointly vowed to cooperate in connecting all African capitals and major cities with a broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

GAID Africa Regional Network

VOA News: Technology Giants Push to Alleviate African Poverty

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:20:54 +0000

Some of the world's leading information technology corporations are in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, for what organizers are calling a historic summit focusing on Africa's growing IT sector. Representatives of tech giants are calling for business solutions to alleviate poverty.

Industry leaders say chronic poverty in Africa will be alleviated by investment in information technology, rather than foreign aid.

GAID Africa Regional Network

Malaysia Sun: World Bank to double IT funding for Africa

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:16:49 +0000

The World Bank has announced that it will double its commitment to information and communication technology (ICT) in Africa to $2 billion by 2012.

The funds will be channelled through its three financing arms, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, said Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank Group President at the opening ceremony of Connect Africa Summit held here Monday.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

Reuters: AfDB approves $150 mln loan for telecoms link

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:14:12 +0000

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $150 million loan for a pan-African submarine cable known as the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), the bank's president said on Tuesday.

The proposed cable is meant to bring speedy and cheap bandwidth to at least 23 African nations. It will run between South Africa and Sudan with six landing points along the way.

GAID Africa Regional Network

BBC: Africa waiting for net revolution

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:15:17 +0000

More than a third of Africa's citizens should have access to broadband internet by 2012, a conference of technology leaders is set to hear.

GAID Africa Regional Network

ITU and AfDB join forces to Interconnect African Capitals and Major Cities

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:47:11 +0000

The International Telecommunication Union and the African Development Bank (AfDB) agreed to collaborate on interconnecting all African capitals and major cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

Secretary-General of ITU, Dr Hamadoun Touré and President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Mr Donald Kaberuka announced this today at the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

GAID Africa Regional Network

Statement by Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to the Connect Africa Summit

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:06:25 +0000

President Kagame,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am truly honoured to join you today on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, and to deliver his message to you. I quote:

“It is a great pleasure to send my greetings to this Connect Africa Summit. On behalf of the United Nations family, I express my appreciation to President Kagame and the Government of Rwanda for hosting the Summit at this strategic time.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

People's Daily Online: ICT to be catalyst in Africa's economic, social development

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:59:16 +0000

Information and communication technology (ICT) will be a catalyst in all sectors of the economy in Africa, Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has said.

A "Marshall Plan" for ICT connectivity was required to provide universal access by 2012, Toure said at a press briefing Sunday, one day before Connect Africa Summit, which is aimed to improve the information and communication technology infrastructure of Africa.

GAID Africa Regional Network

American Public Radio: Connecting Africans to Web potential

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:26:28 +0000

There are nearly a billion people on the continent of Africa, and only 4 percent of the population has Internet access. But some companies connect web access with new market potential and job creation.

GAID Africa Regional Network

UN News: UN partners with Microsoft to bring technology benefits to millions in Africa

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:39:15 +0000

The United Nations telecommunications agency and technology giant Microsoft have announced a new partnership to help bring the benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) to millions in Africa, a key aim of a global summit that kicked off today in Rwanda.

As part of the partnership, announced today at the Connect Africa Summit, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Microsoft will launch ITU Global View, a virtual earth-based online platform to showcase and track ICT-related development projects on the continent.

GAID Africa Regional Network

'Connect Africa' Summit Ends With Pledge To Link Continent's Capitals, Major Cities By 2012; Total Global Hook-up To Follow

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:26:18 +0000

The "Connect Africa" summit concluded today in Kigali with commitments to create the right regulatory environment from African leaders and pledges by private-sector leaders to invest in the continent's communications sector.

Some 1,000 participants -- including six African Presidents, executives of information and communications technology (ICT) companies and heads of international development banks -- convened in the Rwandan capital to devise ways to improve Africa's information and communications technology infrastructure, especially in relation to Internet broadband connectivity.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

UN News: Africa ready for information technology investment, UN summit told

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:06:26 +0000

As a two-day summit on improving Africa's information technology infrastructure wrapped up today in Rwanda, the head of the United Nations telecommunications agency reminded investors that Africa is "open for business and looking for partnerships."

The Connect Africa Summit, held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, brought together some 1,000 participants, including political leaders, executives of information and communication technology (ICT) companies and heads of development banks.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

Digital Journal: Technology summit aims to boost African development

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:48:44 +0000

Buying a mobile telephone in Rwanda's booming capital Kigali is a tricky endeavour but not for the reasons you might think.

Finding a phone is easy; the difficulty is navigating the crowds of young men and women jostling and shoving in line at the shopping mall in order to buy a slim, black phone made by Chinese telecom giant ZTE.

The phone is now available for less than 30 dollars, which might explain its popularity among young people.

GAID Africa Regional Network

Reuters: African nations urged to harmonize telecoms laws

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:41:36 +0000

African countries working jointly to construct an undersea telecoms cable should harmonize laws governing the sector if they are to land the much-awaited communications link, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

Some 23 nations on the east of the continent have long harbored a much-delayed plan to build the submarine cable to slash Internet and calling costs in a project known as the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

APC: Statement from participants in the "Civil Society Workshop on Open Access to ICT infrastructure in Africa"

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:54:17 +0000

Statement from participants in the “Civil Society Workshop on Open Access to ICT infrastructure in Africa” convened by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) on 28 October 2007 to coincide with the Connect Africa Summit, Kigali, October 2007

This statement is made in light of the publicised commitments and goals of the Connect Africa Summit taking place in Rwanda, Kigali on 29th and 30th of October 2007.

GAID Africa Regional Network

TelecomTV: Connect Africa opens; but is anyone listening?

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:25:25 +0000

It was to be the first major initiative of new ITU secretary general, Dr. Hamadoun Toure – a forum to address the critical need for ICT in Africa. But as the Connect Africa plenary session commenced in the Rwandan capital of Kigali this morning, many delegates and almost the entire press corps were missing. Not the best way to get the news out there.

GAID Africa Regional Network

KBC: Kagame calls for proper utilization of Africa resources

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:17:57 +0000

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is calling for proper utilization of resources in Africa for the betterment of the people on the continent.

President Kagame said continued dependence on charity and aid from development partners is undermining the potential of the continent to chart out its destiny.

Speaking at the International Telecommunications Union, Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, President Kagame said African leaders should now insist on trade and commerce in the place of handouts that do not help to alleviate the suffering of the majority on the continent.

GAID Africa Regional Network

AFP: Africa seeks to 'get connected' at Kigali meet

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:13:41 +0000

African leaders and technology experts met Monday in Rwanda to discuss plans to boost the continent's development by securing universal Internet access by 2012.
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Several heads of state arrived for the "Connect Africa" gathering, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and supported by international bodies including the African Union and the United Nations.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

Guardian Unlimited: Upwardly mobile Africa: key to development lies in their hands

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:10:12 +0000

While many people in developed countries use their phones to stave off boredom on public transport, in sub-Saharan Africa a mobile phone can be a passport out of poverty.

Today, the Connect Africa summit in the Rwandan capital of Kigali will bring together the heads of 10 African countries, ministers and experts from the mobile phone industry in an effort to put that passport in the hands of more people, bridging the digital divide.

GAID Africa Regional Network

VOA News: Technology Summit Opens in Rwanda

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:06:33 +0000

The Connect Africa Leaders' summit kicked off in the Rwandan capital Kigali Monday. The conference focuses on investment and development in Africa's burgeoning telecommunications industry.

GAID Africa Regional Network

VOA News: Technology Summit in Rwanda Aims to Spur African Development

admin — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:21:00 +0000

African development hinges upon investment and aggressive policies to develop communications technologies rather than dependence on foreign aid, said Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general the U.N. International Telecommunication Union.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

The Tide: 10 African leaders to attend Kigali ICT summit

admin — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:03:51 +0000

Ten African leaders are to attend the International Summit on the Information and Communication Technology(ICT) in Kigali, Rwanda scheduled for October 29, dubbed "Connect Africa".

"Ten African Heads of State have already confirmed their participation," Albert Butare, Rwandan Secretary of State for Energy and ICT, said.

GAID Africa Regional Network

DO Channel: Better ICT links for unleashing Africa

admin — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:23:17 +0000

Better information and communication technology (ICT) links would help Africa to unleash its economic potential, United Nations and business leaders said at a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York last month.

GAID Africa Regional Network

ITWeb: Intel chairman heads to Africa

admin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:52:11 +0000

Intel chairman Craig Barrett will visit Rwanda and Nigeria next week. His African trip is in support of the Intel World Ahead Programme and United Nations initiatives to increase access to technology to create economic opportunities, and improve healthcare and education across the continent.

Barrett will lead a United Nations group that promotes the role of technology in achieving international development goals, says Intel in a statement.

GAID Africa Regional Network

EABW: Nepad's Broadband Cable Needs U.S.$2 Billion

admin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:18:04 +0000

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ministers from eastern and southern Africa have endorsed a US$2b broadband cable project to connect Africa, and called for its speedy implementation.

With a capacity of 3.84 Terrabits/sec, the 50,000 km undersea and terrestrial cable is designed to provide telecommunications connectivity to Africa and connect the continent to the Americas, India and Europe.

GAID Africa Regional Network

The Economist: Africa and the Internet - The Digital Gap: More than a click to put Africa online

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:28:54 +0000

When it comes to computing power, the gap between Africa and the broadband world is still a Grand Canyon. Only 4% of Africans have access to the internet. They pay the most in the world, around $250-300 a month, for the slowest connection speeds. E-commerce barely exists. Nigeria's 140m-odd people have but a few hundred decently trafficked websites in their domain. Blogging is a vibrant but peripheral activity.

If sub-Saharan Africa were scaled according to its available internet connectivity, it would be about the size of Ireland.

Better Connectivity with Broadband to Africa

The Christian Science Monitor: Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub

admin — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:15:00 +0000

Sometime in the next two years, nearly every school in Rwanda – from distant mountain villages to swelling urban areas – will be hooked up to the Internet. And it won't be some crummy dial-up service. It will be high-speed broadband, carried by fiber-optic cables.

The fact that Rwanda is closing in on this goal without having the massive oil wealth of Angola or Sudan, the diamonds of Congo or South Africa, or even the copper of nearby Zambia is a testimony to the power of imagination. And Rwanda imagines that one day, it will be the information technology center of Africa.

GAID Africa Regional Network

BBC: Kenya awards internet cable deal

admin — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:21:29 +0000

Kenya has awarded an $82m undersea internet cable project to the French-American company Alcatel-Lucent.

The fibre-optic cable will be the region's first submarine telecoms link to the rest of the world and should cut costs and provide high-speed access.

GAID Africa Regional Network