Badru, i could pay a dollar for that if you had some resonance on the other side of the coin where the private sector due to a lot of the factors we know cannot do this ALONE? Eric here On 24 Jan 2007, at 19:16, Badru Ntege wrote:

I think we all know "who shot EASSY". it was politics and egos which have never been good bed fellows. The guilty parties that pulled the trigger are kenya and South Africa though the jury is still out on this. Then along the way came some other characters who used the impasse to get some free publicity (we all know who they are ). when time to pay up came they all disappeared and guess who is suffering.

If government's and Nepad want to be in please consult the community, lay the law and rules of engagement and stay away. then next should be those who have the pockets to come in and build the fiber.

I mean at the end of the day business rules will kick in and eventually the price will come down. If government wants to intervene to bring costs down then give the businesses an incentive to offer good pricing, maybe tax waivers etc.

Lets forget the nice world in the clouds where everyone has access and buys at the same price etc. Some things need to be given time to develop naturaly.

Many things and services in all our walks of life are built by private entities some are closed clubs and others are open. that is a business decision.

Forget open access and all that baloony, all those consultants who were singing all this nice to the ears stuff are back sitting behind there 10mB links costing them a few dollars while we are sitting on our 16k 32k links moaning EASSY.

Bottom line allow the operators to build the cable Set operating criteria and acceptable pricing levels Government concentrates on facilitating internal networks to Rural communities Encourage the production of local content Put in measures that will create demand and thus market forces to bring the prices down.

my 2 cents

gathuri njorohio wrote:

...

Hi All The EASSY cable implementation seems to be stalling due to disagreement on financing and the way to operate and manage it. The Eastern african countries will continue being overcharged for their international traffic when they pass through satellite due to lack of this cheap way of carrying traffic through the submarine cable. We are aware of the regional economic bodies that are mandated to promote trade between the countries and I suggest that they should also invest in ICT .COMESA and SADC are the bodies catering for trade in south and eastern Africa.Why can't they take the opportunity to invest in this cable so that it can benefit the countries they are serving. A company can be formed answerable to these two bodies for the installation , maintenance and operation of this cable. The western africa and central africa can do the same for the western cable link. The existing cables can continue to give redundancy for the new cables. The e commission of the NEPAD could facilitate these intiatives as a neutral body for the development of Africa. Eng. Njorohio */alice@apc.org/* wrote:

(Apologies for Cross positing)

Attn: Telco Operators, Regulators, Academia, Media, Civil Society, Consumers

The Last Frontier: The East African Coast remains the last region in the world that is yet to connect to the cheaper and more reliable Global Submarine Optical Fiber Network. EASSy, TEAMS and others promise to change that by providing this crucial link.

EASSy, TEAMS, etc,: What is the best model for providing the Fiber Optic Submarine Cable to East Africans?

Join the Online Discussion: Starting Monday Jan 22nd – Sat Feb 3rd 2007 and make your views be known regarding this historic development.

to subscribe: http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please send your details to jkimiti@email.kictanet.or.ke

_______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa@lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

--------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Never Miss an Email Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail on your mobile. Get started! <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=43909/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/ services?promote=mail> --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---

_______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa@lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

_______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa@lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

Eric M.K Osiakwan ICT Consultant and Journalist 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" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa@lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa