John Odyek
31 March 2008
Kampala — THE Government and stakeholders in information and communications technology (ICT) are to set up a team of experts to develop a position paper on the building of the African submarine cable.
Dr Ham Mukasa Mulira, the ICT minister, said voice and data communication in Uganda was slow and expensive.
The cables are aimed at improving Internet communication.
He said with the construction of the fiber optic submarine cables, there was an opportunity to improve speed, affordability and access to information and communication technology (ICT) to ICT-hungry Africa.
This was during a discussion about the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) UHURUNET sub-marine cable in Kampala. UHURU is a Swahili word meaning freedom.
UHURUNET is a NEPAD project aimed at linking ICT-hungry Africa with the world.
The team of experts, who will be called the Broad Band Infrastructure Strategy Team, will comprise representatives from telecommunication companies, civil society and academia.
Mulira said the team should deliver the paper in a month due to the urgency of participation in various submarine cables.
He noted Cabinet had not yet endorsed the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) protocol because it needs clarification on various issues.
Mulira said several submarine projects covering Africa like TEAMS, Seacom and Infraco were in offing.
He said Africa had few submarine cables compared to Europe.
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