Arusha — The East African Community has clarified that prices of broad band Internet connection will reduce on the Internet subscription as a result of connecting to the SEACOM undersea cable when other players come onto the market starting next month.

In a press release last week, the Deputy Secretary General of the EAC in charge of Infrastructure and Planning, Mr Alloys Mutabingwa, said the block and key partners like the International Telecommunication Union, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the EU, are collaborating in putting in place modalities that would lead to interconnecting capitals and major African cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

Many companies have complained that although they were promised cheaper and faster broad bank Internet facilities as a result of connecting to SEACOM as opposed to the expensive satellite technology, the prices have not reduced and neither has the efficiency.

Mr Mutabingwa clarified that whereas a private investor has brought SEACOM undersea cable services to improve Internet facilities other players will be arriving in the region to ensure that the EAC realises better, faster and cheaper ICT facilities.

He said a summit dubbed

Connect Africa Summit - a global multi-stakeholder partnership - was held in Rwanda in 2007 to mobilise resources required to bridge major gaps in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure across the region and linking with the rest of the globe.

"Emphasis was laid on the need for supporting affordable connectivity and applications and services to stimulate economic growth, employment and development throughout Africa," Mutabingwa said.

"The private sector was called upon to play a more visible role in the pursuit of this vision, and where necessary, there would also be a private-public-partnership to spur this development." A target was set to connect African villages to broadband ICT services by 2015 and implement shared access initiatives such as community tele-centres and village phones.

The summit also resolved to support the development of a critical mass of ICT skills required by the knowledge economy through the establishment of a network of ICT centres of excellence in each sub-region of Africa and ICT capacity-building and training centres in each country, with the aim of achieving a broad network of inter-linked physical and virtual centres, while ensuring coordination between academia and industry by 2015.The release said that commercial entities like SEACOM, other Consortia like TEAMS (to land in November), and the private-public-partnership of EASSy (to land early in 2010), are playing an important role in achieving the above goals.He clarified that some problems like the cost if Internet provision would be sorted out in due time. "It was expected that the price of connectivity for the end-user would drop drastically, but this does not appear to be forthcoming in the short-run. "As more investors gain interest in this area, and as consumers (end-users) get more organized; the market problem will undoubtedly be mitigated given the market regulatory framework existing in all partner states of EAC," Mutabingwa noted adding that it is natural that any commercial venture would seek a return on investment within the quickest possible time.

However, he noted that investment in creating a fibre backbone at any level is a long term infrastructure deployment that is supposed to reap benefits now and for the future generations of our region. He said whereas some goals have been addressed, the EAC wants to make sure that the fibre goes to the rural areas of our region and is working with the partner states to achieve this goal. "It is hoped that the private sector will play a role in the last-mile initiatives in the rural sectors, instead of concentrating in the urban centres only."He said that the EAC may revisit the existing regulatory framework and also explore options like sharing of international gateways for the submarine cables landing stations. The release said that the EAC advises consumers (end-users) to set up a Consumer Advocacy Group, that would play a role in coming up with proposals for harmonization of services, fees, quality of content and services, fair competition among the many issues.

He said the EAC competitive pricing of products and services at a wholesale and retail level is not an easy matter, and the EAC hopes that this could be achieved through competition, with a nudge from a regulatory framework.