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From: "Wairagala Wakabi" <wakabi@cipesa.org> Date: 14 November 2007 10:56:10 GMT+03:00 To: "African Information Society Initiative - Discussion Forum" <aisi-l@lyris.bellanet.org> Cc: discuss@afrispa.org, "Eric Osiakwan" <eric@afrispa.org>, gispa@yahoogroups.com, africann@afrinic.net, "African Information Society Initiative - Discussion Forum" <aisi-l@lyris.bellanet.org>, "Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing" <ginks@dgroups.org>, afnog@afnog.org, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>, afrinic- discuss@afrinic.net Subject: [aisi-l] SEACOM gets funding boost Reply-To: "African Information Society Initiative - Discussion Forum" <aisi-l@lyris.bellanet.org>
Netters, Its backers are saying SEACOM will be the only new cable completed in time to give South Africa the bandwidth needed for the 2010 WC, with "actual production of the fibreoptic cable and undersea facilities" starting next week. SA's SNO, NEOTEL, has helped marshal capital from local financial heavyweights, enabling NEOTEL to be owned 50% by South Africans.
Tut Tut...
Wakabi
Sea cable venture lands big investors
By Lesley Stones, Business Day, November 14 2007
AN UNDERSEA cable promising cheap bandwidth for Africa yesterday finally named its backers, signing up enough well-connected local investors to guarantee its landing rights in SA.
Investment heavyweight Venfin is sinking $75m into the project, taking a 25% stake in the 15000km cable linking SA to India and Europe.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s black investment house Shanduka is taking 12,5%, worth $37,5m. Another 12,5% goes to Convergence Partners, a group of black investors led by Andile Ngcaba, the chairman of Dimension Data Africa and a former director-general of the communications department. Nedbank Capital and Investec will provide financing for the $650m project.
SA’s second network operator, Neotel, is pumping in a far more modest R20m, and using its telecoms licence to guarantee that the cable can dock in SA.
The local ownership is sufficient to ensure that Seacom meets controversial new conditions being drawn up by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, dictating who can land a cable in SA. The minister is insisting that any cable must be majority owned by African investors to come ashore.
South Africans hold 50% of Seacom, and that rises to 75% African ownership thanks to 25% held by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s Industrial Promotion Services, a development agency based in Kenya.
The remaining 25% lies with New York’s Herakles Telecom, a development group that has invested $4bn in Africa.
Neotel is investing only in the local landing station, but its licence to operate in SA conferred on it the right to land a cable, said MD Ajay Pandey.
“Our understanding is that the country needs international capacity, and the way international cable landing protocols have been defined means we have the opportunity here.”
Venfin CEO Jannie Durand said Neotel’s licence to land a cable in SA meant everything had been done “legally and correctly”. Venfin was backing Seacom for two reasons, he said: “We are hopefully going to make a lot of money out of it and SA needs more bandwidth. We want to bring SA affordable bandwidth to the rest of the world.”
Although the cable will cost $650m, it would be partly funded by loans as well as equity, allowing Venfin to take 25% for less than the book value of the project, Durand said.
Pandey believes Seacom will be the onlyThe actual production of the fibreoptic cable and undersea facilities will start next week.
The consortium has already invested more than $10m in a marine survey and engineering of the cable. The actual production of the fibreoptic cable and undersea facilities will start next week.
Seacom will connect Mtunzini in SA to Mumbai in India and Marseilles in France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania by June 2009.
Terrestrial links will be built to take its bandwidth to numerous other inland countries. Its capacity of 1,28 terabytes per second is 10 times the capacity on the existing Sat-3 cable around Africa’s west coast.
The consortium has promised that it will charge other voice and data carriers significantly less for its bandwidth than they pay to use Sat-3 or satellite services, which should trigger a massive decrease in the cost of phone calls, internet access and data transmissions for African consumers and businesses.
“Improved access for business and individuals in Africa to communications, broadband services and new technology offerings can improve lives and help grow the economies of our countries,” said Ngcaba, the chairman of Convergence Partners. “The linking of southern and east Africa with India and Europe is crucial for enhancing development and trade between these key regions.”
gies that will deliver affordable broadband
services open to all. Leveraging existing internet access point as hubs could be a very good starting point to build license-free point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, mesh or even cellular networks that will reach the masses in the villages. It will be nice when someone leaves the town to visit relatives in the village and not lost connectivity to the wireless space because their provider does not offer services yet in that area. Think of a cell phone with WIFI capabilities that accesses paid networks in towns and free WIFI access at the village sector. So in town, you will use your paid services, in the village you will use the free WIFI access...how nice will that be?
Wilfred
----- Message from eric@afrispa.org --------- Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 09:33:30 +0300 From: Eric Osiakwan <eric@afrispa.org> Reply-To: Discuss@afrispa.org Subject: [AfrISPA.Discuss] Five Goals of Connect Africa To: discuss@afrispa.org, KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>, gispa@yahoogroups.com, Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing <ginks@dgroups.org>, APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants <Fibre-for-africa@lists.apc.org>, africann@afrinic.net, afrinic-discuss@afrinic.net, afnog@afnog.org, African Information Society Initiative - Discussion Forum <aisi-l@lyris.bellanet.org>
Dear All,
The Connect Africa Summit justed ended in Kigali with the following five major goals;
Goal 1. Interconnect all African capitals with ICT Broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012 as well as interconnect major African cities by 2015. Goal 2. Connect all African villages to broadband ICT services by 2012 and implement shared access initiatives such as community tele- centres and village phones. Goal 3. Adopt key regulatory measures that promote affordable, widespread access to a full range of bradband ICT services, including technology and service neutral licensing/authorisation practises, allocating spectrum for multiple, competitive broadband wireless service providers, creating national internext exchange points (IXPs) and implementing competition in the provision of international internet connectivity. Goal 4. Support the development of a critical mass of ICT Skills required by the knowledge economy, notably through the estamishment of ICT Centres of Excellence network in each sub-region of Africa and ICT capacity-building and training centres in each country, with the aim of achieving a borad network of inter-linked physical and virtual centres, whiles ensuring coordination between academia and industry by 2015. Goal 5. Adopt a national e-strategy, including a cyber-security framework, and deploy at least one flagship e-government service as well as e-education, e-commerce and e-health services using accessible technologies in each country in Africa by 2012, with the aim of making multiple e-government and other e-services widely available by 2015.
The African ICT Ministers have also shortlisted some projects under ARAPKE which would be implenented through Connect Africa @ http:// www.itu.int/ITU-D/connect/africa/2007/bgdmaterial/flagship-11.html
It is important that we all engage and ensure that these ICT goals are met by 2012 and the larger MDGS by 2015.
Thank you and sorry for cross-posting.
Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
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Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"