|
|
Africa: Nepad-ICT All Set to Link African States
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Onalenna Modikwa
Blantyre
The New Partnership for Africa's Development e-Africa commission has been mandated to oversee the structured development and implementation of the NEPAD ICT programme across the continent.
The commission aims to accelerate development of ICT broadband infrastructure and bridge the digital divide within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world.
ICT infrastructure project manager Brian Cheesman says the ICT broadband infrastructure will ensure that all African countries are connected to one another by a broadband fibre-optic cable network that is in turn linked to the rest of the world.
He added that the ICT infrastructure project will be implemented in two phases - these being the network covering 23 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and the network for West, Central and North Africa.
"The 2004 stakeholders' workshop held in South Africa agreed on a basic broadband ICT network for the region consisting of a terrestrial segment and a submarine segment. The agreed network brought together a number of network development initiatives in the region into a unified plan for the development of the basic infrastructure."
He noted that the development of the cross border network required a transparent policy and regulatory environment that would remove barriers that may impede the establishment of the regional network. He indicated that a transparent policy and regulatory environment would also encourage broader private sector investment in the network.
NEPAD e-Africa commission has requested regional governments to nominate experts who deliberated and proposed five policy principles to guide the development of the framework. Cheesman stated that it was also proposed that a protocol be signed by countries in the region to underpin their collaboration in the development of the network and 12 countries, Botswana among them, signed the protocol. To date seven countries have ratified the protocol, which is now in force.
He lamented that the commission requested the African Union (AU) commission to develop modalities to enable any African countries to accede to the protocol and noted that in March this year the AU commission confirmed that any country that wishes can accede to the protocol.
"As the protocol is now open for any country in Africa, the commission is sparing no effort to persuade other countries to accede."
The ICT manager said the protocol provides for the establishment of a company that will own and operate the cross-border network. The company will be expected, among other things, to provide open and affordable access to regional and international communication services for citizens of the region and the continent, embody cooperation among African countries, facilitation of economic integration of the region and the continent through ICT broadband interconnection between countries as well as ensure cooperation in technology transfer and skills development among countries.
On the expansion of the submarine segment, Cheesman said it has been realised that a submarine cable between Durban and Port Sudan would not result in substantial cost reductions because of high onward connectivity charges. He noted that there are several recent initiatives to build submarine cables between Southern and Eastern Africa and Europe and other areas, saying this has opened up new opportunities hence the need for collaboration.
Through collaboration on the submarine cable system the project would benefit from economies of scale, thereby reducing costs for all participating countries.
|
"There would be provision for entities from all African countries to have shareholding in the submarine cable system through warehousing of equity and also there would be a provision for all coastal and island countries in Africa to be connected," he said.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
