Date: 14 November 2007 10:56:10 GMT+03:00
Subject: [aisi-l] SEACOM gets funding boost
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
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 09:33:30 +0300
Subject: [AfrISPA.Discuss] Five Goals of Connect Africa
- Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants
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
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
Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
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